Comments on: Four Theories to Explain The Phantom Thread

By: Sedabb

Sedabb — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 04:10:30 +0000

It’s a movie about power, but not just where I think most folks are leaving it. It’s the most perfect ‘sexless’ metaphor for S&M I think I’ve seen on film. Start with RW’s first girlie – it’s gotten “stodgy” – he likes it spicy. Over the film, he realizes just how much. So does Alma – starting from desperation, she realizes that ‘curing’ him now & then to where he is totally subject to her control (she literally spills those beans in the Omelette Speech) gets her the ring, the family, the nest & etc. Continue with what RW does as a job…he has POWER over women in an arena core to their happiness: appearance, fashion, beauty. And by the end, that power is fading…as Alma gains power over him – symbolic of the dominant-submissive rel.

Surprised there hasn’t been more focus on the relationship between Alma and CYRIL. It’s the biggest tell in the movie of what P/T/A wants us to see. In the third act, Alma completely supplants Cyril in a neat, bloodless coup. With almost no fanfare, Cyril just recedes and waves the white flag. The only reference to it is RW’s moan about how “polite” they are to one another – detente. Why does it matter? Because it’s a power shift among two women…and gets nearly no focus, versus the shift btw Alma + RW.

May get an eyeroll at the little taboo I suggest as the theory, but it’s actually pretty vanilla. Think of the Wall Street dude or Hollywood director who wants a call girl to give him a good spanking trope…nothing that novel as a movie theme. Good movie, but not that crafty…

By: Clippidy-cloppidy

Clippidy-cloppidy — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 13:15:27 +0000

Guys, I don’t think there is any deep meaning in this movie in terms of any ghosts or fantasies. I’d suggest you stop digging… I think it’s a movie about an unhealthy relationship of two people who are unable to break out of it due to their psychological deficiencies. It’s a study of that strange power that keeps these two people together despite their struggles with each other – a phantom thread indeed. I am astonished of how real this portrayal is because I ACTUALLY LIVE this relationship every day (no poisoning here, though!). It was fascinating to see extactly what I went, am still going through, on screen and I was so hoping to find answers to questions that are constantly on my mind, but… in vein.
Did she really love him? Did she really care for him? Or did she just love a certain image of herself? Where they happy with each other? Why didn’t she leave him? For what reason did she stay with him (other than materialistic ones)? Was his life better before Almas arrival or after? And who decides that? Alma? Cyril? The audience? Would Reynolds be able to answer this question himself?
And what the hell am I supposed to do?!?!?

By: Tamie Callahan

Tamie Callahan — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 13:48:36 +0000

Is it possible that even though the mushrooms made him sick, they also made him feel alive? This might explain his joy at being well after he was so sick. So joyful that he asked Alma to marry him? The ending made me sad because it inferred to me that on some level we need to poison our relationships to get out partners to appreciate the healthy times, particularly if our partner has a dark personality (or was it depression?). It’s a cynical point of view that assumes one needs bad to have good. I loved that the story was told from her point of view to the reporter. She looked so joyful and serene as she told it. Like she solved a puzzle and couldn’t wait to explain her strategy. But did she? BTW The acting was incredible. The leads are masters at their craft. I was disturbed by the ending but, as the reviewer first said, my opinion has morphed as time goes on.

By: Jade

Jade — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 08:15:10 +0000

I am intrigued by all of these thoughts by others. I too jumped online to get some perspective on the ending, because it seemed that if you weren’t paying close enough attention, you’d miss something very key to understanding everything. Sure, the relationship is simple, but how the story is told leaves questions. Why is she talking to someone as if being interrogated? I kept getting the feeling that something bad was going to happen. The fact that it seemed to end like a present wrapped in a pretty ribbon made me question if this ending wasn’t her fantasy, and not reality. She explains in the beginning that she gave herself completely to him, but the moment when he speaks so terribly of her to Cyril or threatens to throw her out, you have to wonder if she is actually giving him a lethal dosage of poisonous mushrooms, and the person to whom she is speaking is some kind of investigator. Also, she speaks of his possible death rather frivolously, as though it wouldn’t matter if he died, because she would find him again and again in the next life, because they were forever entangled. Also, in the ending montage, we see them dancing on the dance floor of the NYE ballroom exactly as it was when she went “dancing” without him, wearing the cocktail dress that she disliked in the earlier part of their relationship when he told her she had no taste…as if it eclipsed time, and she was dreaming of the man she really wished he was; the kind of man that would take her dancing on NYE without question. She selfishly wants him to be what she wants him to be, and he is so set in his ways, it seems highly unlikely that willful poison would somehow change him. Also, we see her doing his work at the end as though he wasn’t there at all, making the implication that she carries on after his death. To me, the end is a dream…Alma’s dream. If a thimble full of mushrooms in his tea made him so sick, what would a full bite of the mushroom do? She wanted to punish him for hurting her, and she probably confessed to someone, but I doubt Reynolds was a willing victim. She just imagined he was. She strikes me as someone who suffers from Muchheusens by proxy (so?). She gets great joy out of caring for him, ingratiating herself to him, gaining the admiration and respect of others as a caregiver, all the while loving him to death. Just my take on it.

By: Barb

Barb — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 22:17:28 +0000

Here is the KISS answer:

Woodcock is simply Bi polar with a little OCD thrown in for more fun. They both knew he was a jerk but he could not control his mental illness.

Alma was controlling his disorder with the poisonous mushrooms. They both enjoyed the outcome once she found the correct dosage.

We use Lithium and a plethora of other meds for that now a days.

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 22:07:49 +0000

In reply to kaduzy. This site is just a secret way for me to stay humble. I highly recommend everyone try it. It’s a fantastic psycho-emotional workout.

By: kaduzy

kaduzy — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 20:34:21 +0000

This piece is so full of every kind of error, starting with basic grammar and continuing on to key plot details. You couldn’t even get the title right.

By: Carla

Carla — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 02:01:50 +0000

the reality exceeds fiction. This is the typical story of a narcissist personality desorder guy and his co-dependent girl who wants to take revenge on her abuser but at the same time “love”him.
In the relationship she created Cognitive Dissonance, Stockholm Syndrom and others.
Just for understand more the film check : malignant NPD

By: Doris J. Hunter

Doris J. Hunter — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 21:23:17 +0000

Absolutely one of the best performances in Hollywood, Daniel Day Lewis. He owns Hollywood! The movie was about dominance and power. Strong willed people attempting to live together seldom works and someone has to give in. Very clever production with the constant eye contact by his sister, Cyril who was magnificently portrayed and Alma(Meryl Streep look-a-like!) was superb! I could not take my eyes away from the screen. I do not think it was too complicated as everything was given to you in the script. They held nothing back. His need to be babied and consoled was surprising and that is where the struggle was won.