Phantom Thread (2018) - The Swansong!

★★★★☆

This is a horror film disguising as a love story! It seems romantic, graceful and elegant but the core of it is indeed very sick! Not that there’s any ghosts or spirits to scare the shit out of you, but as the truth gets revealed in the end, you’ll feel like throwing up a bit as it sort of contradicts what you think it is. It’s no doubt a perfect demonstration of madness and cruelty of love going pathetically extreme and dangerous, pushing the so-called S&M to a whole new level and therefore making ‘Fifty Shades’ look like child’s play!

To be honest, if not for Daniel Day-Lewis, I wouldn’t have checked out such a film. ‘Phantom Thread’ is a story about a renowned dress designer who deliberately prevents himself from getting into serious relationships so as to keep his inspirations running, till later on he comes across a waitress who is destined to turn his world upside down and his guts inside out! I have a bad taste in fashion but the film doesn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth after all. Daniel Day-Lewis doesn’t put up a lazy performance here but it’s certainly incomparable with his in ‘My Left Foot’, ‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘Lincoln’ that won him record 3 Academy Awards for Best Actor. Here he still appears charismatic and convincing enough to catch your attention throughout. And I wonder how the film would be like without him? Sure it’d be rather dry and boring in spite of the ending being able to give some thrills and goosebumps!

I used to like watching love stories a lot, but I no longer do since I’ve learned what love really means to a dualistic mind of a sentient being like you and me. It’s nothing but a comely manifestation of selfishness and manipulation! This is only a so-so film to me. I gave it 4 stars because it’s Daniel Day-Lewis’s swansong, and I believe so! I admire the way he approaches to acting, the way he deals with his life and fame, that is, keep a low profile as always, shut off from the masses as long as he can, and make it his own!