Original title: Phantom Thread · Paul Thomas Anderson · USA · 2017 · Script: Paul Thomas Anderson · Interpreters: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville…
In this so-called auteur cinema there are, generalizing a lot, at least two types of creators. First of all, There are those that we recognize for their themes and their personal ways of putting on screen the arguments that inspire them.. Either because the topics they address come from their intimate concerns or they are reflected in the stories they choose to adapt., In these cases there are recognizable constants. Within this first case are directors like Woody Allen, to give a very clear example, the cohen brothers, there would also be a Haneke, incluso Clint Eastwood, whose way of approaching the staging or the literary material he chooses ends up having features that link each of his films.. On the other hand, There are other directors who, although those stories they develop have to be, forcibly, of your interest, There is no such obvious correlation between them.. They are directors for whom history serves more as support on their way to explore the possibilities of cinematographic art., an excuse to give free rein to your aesthetic sensibility. Your search does not seem so linked to particular topics, like that spark that awakens your ability to create images. This seems to be the case of the American Paul Thomas Anderson.
It is not easy to recognize what tapes like Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Wells of ambition, The master o Pure vice, at least as far as its theme is concerned, beyond, maybe, of an interest in investigating the roots of the miseries of the human experience. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those atypical directors within the film industry. One of those creators who, so far, has managed to maintain that perfect balance that allows him to make personal works without straying too far towards the margins of the system., being accepted by a public that, although it is not the majority, Nor is it so scarce that its works do not interest distributors and programmers.. The attention that the general media shows with each of its premieres, comes to underpin that interest. If it were not so, simply, they would not appear. But if Anderson's cinema seduces us, it is for two reasons.: the deep treatment of its characters and, fundamentally, in the increasing refinement of its formal proposal. A refinement that reaches very high levels in this latest production.
The invisible thread delves into the life of couturier Reynolds Woodcock, fictional character inspired by the world of fashion that developed in London in the 1950s after World War II. Woodcock es, definitely, a remarkable man. Firmly anchored to their routines, Her world is reduced to the stately home in which she lives and where she has her sewing workshop., their showrooms, some occasional female relationship and, above all, the company of his sister Ciryl who, with an iron fist, manage your personal interests and the business. Woodcock is a man dedicated body and soul to his work, there is nothing outside of it. After his umpteenth breakup and the completion of his latest assignments, Woodcock retires to rest at his house in the countryside. On the way, He meets the young Alma in a modest restaurant., of whom he admires her figure and natural bearing. Woodcock invites Alma to his house where, contrary to what perhaps she expected, takes measurements for a model he is making. Alma will soon become the couturier's muse and lover.. But this dream soon begins to show its cracks. Initial curiosity overcome, the same old conflicts arise. Alma will have to fight if she wants to preserve her position in the house and, above all, in her relationship with the elusive Woodcock.
If we stick to the argument, The invisible thread addresses several issues of interest. First of all, and in a first layer, Paul Thomas Anderson's latest production is a portrait of the world of fashion, a universe that may seem foreign to many of us, but what, in your hands, reveals some curiosities. Anderson opens the doors to a universe of colors and textures in which shapes, far from mere whim or empty originality, are intimately related to those bodies that you dress and, without which, it wouldn't make sense. fashion is, well, an expression of human inventiveness and is in relation to those bodies, with the fact of “being” human, when it gains value. But we don't stay here, well, for Anderson, as for Woodcock, Fashion is more than just colored rags assembled with more or less grace.. Es, as in the case of painting, music or cinema itself, pure art and as such we should consider it. It is in that dimension of creation where the American director must have undoubtedly found one of the elements that led him to produce this feature film..
So, we could say that The invisible thread es, fundamentally, the portrait of a creator. An abstract creator, personified in the figure of this Reynolds Woodcock, anchored to this world of fashion, but it could well be related to any other form of artistic expression. It will not hurt us to remember in these lines how lightly we refer to many of these characters to whom, too often, We reduce ourselves to the cliché of a vain and narcissistic individual who postulates himself above the rest of other mortals.. It is enough to be somewhat unsociable and be successful to fall into that category.. And if, there is some vanity and narcissism in all this. But, Would art be possible without vanity? But it is that, besides, Anderson does not stop there and delves into the figure of a man who is, first of all, that, a human being, with his manias and obsessions, with your prejudices, your doubts and, above all, its many contradictions and there, no matter how far we feel from the world of Reynolds Woodcock, is when we can identify ourselves as spectators. Anderson paints a portrait with obvious Freudian overtones, a man in permanent search for a previous happy past, represented in the figure of his mother, and?, despite your efforts, it slips out of your hands because, as the movie suggests, we can't live off it. Woodcock drama will focus, well, in the need to build a present that allows you to achieve a happy life, need that he himself ignores, protected behind those same routines that seem to dictate his world.
However, if we go down another level, The invisible thread es, first of all, a beautiful love story. From the moment Alma moves into the Woodcock house, the problems begin. So, The now young model will find herself entangled in the strict rules that govern the lives of the two brothers.. As soon as he returned from his short stay in the countryside, Woodcock locks himself mentally and physically in his work, strictly watched by his sister Cyril who, like a guard dog, protect your privacy. A silent war begins for Alma in which she will have to assert her position, not only within the supposed love bond that he maintains with Reynolds, but as a mere individual. Alma begins to feel like a simple decorative object, a tool, like scissors, the threads or needles used by the seamstresses who work for him. In order to achieve that status to which you aspire, will have to break the barrier of that rigid order that reigns in the house. Your challenge will meet with fierce opposition, both on the part of Woodcock himself, as in the omnipresent Cyril.
But when Paul Thomas Anderson's latest tape (eventually, script author) gains true depth, It is as he investigates the ins and outs of this turbulent relationship.. And it is here that Anderson demonstrates his knowledge of the recesses of the human soul., well, In fact, The path of Alma and Woodcock himself is not reduced to a struggle between opponents to gain power within the bond that unites them.. To really get to the heart of Reynolds, It will not be enough for Alma to explain her reasons, You will have to get to know him until you understand him in his deepest peculiarities., expressed by those obsessions that mortify him. And in the case of Reynolds, something similar happens, well, to achieve the happiness that, dice, his tormented spirit longs, You will have to give up some of that privacy that you guard so jealously.. So, The invisible thread becomes an essay about love, understood as the path towards that mutual understanding of the other, with limits, but without prejudice. Anderson pays attention to every detail here, while investigating a universe that opens before the viewer's eyes like a chest full of secrets.
It seems obvious to mention that this work would not reach certain levels of beauty and subtle complexity without the collaboration of a cast of actors with extremely high interpretive abilities.. It is now unnecessary to mention here the talent of Daniel Day-Lewis. We already heard about the potential of the collaboration between Anderson and Lewis in the essential Wells of ambition. We will only say that the promise that this new collaboration between the two anticipated is more than fulfilled. And the same thing happens with Vicky Krieps, in the role of the delicate Alma, or the more veteran Lesley Manville, as Cyril, Reynolds Woodcock's possessive sister. We better invite you to come to the room to enjoy your work..
But, as we said above, If the work of Paul Thomas Anderson catches our attention, it is because of his elegant treatment of the image.. And here Anderson, Also responsible for photography direction, He is discovered as a complete author with powerful mastery and maturity in the use of film resources.. There is in The invisible thread an exquisite delight in the construction of each plane. It is evident that Anderson has found in the life and universe of this Reynolds Woodcock the perfect reason for his sensitivity. We talk here about the placement of the different elements of the scene, of the subtle direction of the movements of its actors, millimetrically orchestrated, of the relationship of all of them with light and, fundamentally, with spaces. Why, apart from their characters, The invisible thread It's a space movie. we could remember, reached this point, the latest production by Italian Luca Guadagnino, Call me by your name, commented in this same section last week. But where Guadagnino's Italy remained a mere image without much dramatic or aesthetic interest, In Anderson's film, the spaces that make up this drama are more than just simple sets.. Guadagnino resorted to the collective imagination to corroborate that well-worn postcard that appears in travel books and in so many other films., and he did it, besides, in a very strident manner, as if shouting their intentions in our ears to get our attention. Anderson, instead, shows us an unknown universe and envelops us within it like a soft tune would., a whisper.
Leaving aside the story, Paul Thomas Andeson has composed a work that has a lot of musical work. We cannot escape the fact that a good part of the North American director's career has been consolidated within the world of video clips., training that is felt in this production. And we are not referring to its aesthetics, but to that desire to compose a piece more built on a melodic base than a narrative one., we could say. The permanent presence of music throughout the entire footage is no coincidence. (composed by Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead frontman and frequent collaborator of the director, that does a discreet job, but effective). Next to him, We cannot miss the last lines of this chronicle to congratulate the editor Dylan Tichenor (collaborator of directors of the stature of Robert Altman, M. Night, Shyamalan, Wes Anderson, The Lee or Andrew Dominik, among others), who does an impeccable job. We are, definitely, before one of this year's films. GERARDO LEON
