Paul Thomas Anderson reteams with his «There Will Be Blood» star Daniel Day - Lewis (in what is reportedly the actor's final role) for another strange tone poem, this focusing on the ego of
the male creative genius, the inscrutability of relationships and the power dynamics that emerge between couples.
As such, the first half of Phantom Thread appears to pass along familiar lines: another story of a tortured
male creative genius — yes, his gowns truly are gasp - worthy — taking out his art - fuelled frustrations and insecurities on a blameless female victim.
Just as the most intense energy of the
male and the most enduring persistence of the female principle form the unlimited power of nature, as love and life consist in separating and uniting, in restlessness and steadiness, in energy and being, so the
creative and the receptive forces work to produce the perfect creation of
genius: the more matter is formed by the
creative force, the more intense the struggle, the greater the effect.