Phantom Thread

Seen at the Star Cinema, Eaglehawk

Cecil says: Phantom Thread is supposedly Daniel Day-Lewis's last film, so it felt like a time to reflect a bit on him as an actor. And what's funny is that, although he was amazingly good again in this film, where he's the control freakery tailor designing dresses for the uber rich of the 1950s, neither of us could remember other films we'd seen him in, except for Room with a View, where Cecil remains one of our most loved characters on film.

The thing about Day-Lewis is that he is a method actor, getting totally into role, living the life of his character before filming begins. I remember an article about him preparing to play the role of a boxer and sparring with a professional boxing champ to get into the experience. I never saw that film, and as I say I can't remember other films he's been in, but maybe that's because he becomes the character rather than staying in the mind as Daniel Day-Lewis. And if Cecil in Room with a View is the exception to that, maybe Cecil IS Daniel Day-Lewis, or vice-versa…I guess we'll never know.

So to Phantom Thread. This is all about the relationship between Reynolds (DDL) and Alma (Vicky Krieps, an actress I didn't know before, but who did a great job as counterweight to Reynolds) Neither character is especially likeable and both seem very driven, so it feels as if it can't possibly end well really, especially with Cyril (Lesley Manville), who I just learnt in writing this review is Reynolds' sister, gatekeeping and mentoring all in one.

The dress-making is superb, though the Society crowd they are designing for are an unattractive lot. And deep down, Reynolds cares nothing for them. His reaction to one monied lady who collapses drunk in one of his finest dresses is pretty horrible, though. As are many of his reactions to things Alma does and noises Alma makes etc. But then Alma too is somehow troubled and controlling. She works behind the scenes to get what she wants out of the relationship, even while saying to her confessor that she has given herself totally to Reynolds.

I'm glad we saw Phantom Thread before it left the cinema circuit. We watched it in the amazing Star Cinema in Eaglehawk, which is set up with sofas and armchairs only in an old town hall building. That set-up gives a real lounge room feel, which can work both ways, as the couple next to us at first clearly chatter their way through films at home, and continued to do so in the Star. We moved a few seats away to get ourselves out of earshot.

***

Bea says: Highly disturbing.  I like Day-Lewis, history, and I am a keen crafter, so thought I would love this period film about sewing and couture.  And I liked some aspects of it, but I didn’t like any of the characters very much, and that made it hard to invest in the film.  Reynolds is cold and controlling, Vicky is bordering on psychopathic, and Cyril is remote and unpredictable.  It was well done – beautifully made, exquisite costuming (although I thought I saw some puckers that wouldn’t be in such a bespoke garment?  Maybe I imagined them), fantastic performances and well written.  But it left me cold; cold, clinical and too perfect is how I would describe this film, to its detriment, unless that was the aim (and I suspect it was).

***1/2

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Seen at the Theatre Royal, Castlemaine

Cecil says: We didn’t know what to expect from Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. The last time we had seen a film with a British city in the title was Manchester by the Sea, and it was neither set in England nor very uplifting. Not that Film Stars is uplifting, but once we saw in the opening credits that it starred Julie Walters and Jamie Bell, we guessed it may well be set in northern England this time.

The opening scene has Annette Bening in her theatre dressing room, as Gloria Grahame, preparing to go on stage in The Glass Menagerie. We are quickly placed into context as she puts a cassette into the player (has to be 70s or 80s then) and Elton John’s Song for Guy starts to play, so that narrowed it down to post 1978.

More from the opening scenes set the stage: Gloria is preparing her makeup and hair ahead of the performance. We see her age, which is one of the key themes of the film (what does happen to ‘ageing’ film stars, though ageing is a relative thing since I am actually older than the Gloria Grahame portrayed, and Bening is superbly well-cast, as she is only a year younger than Grahame would have been at the time). And we see her collapse on the floor just after her five minute curtain call. Sickness is the other theme that runs through this: how we deal with it, how we hide it from loved ones, and how we prioritise things in our lives due to illness.

Bell and Walters are superb, teaming up in performances that echoed their fantastic time in Billy Elliot. Bell gets to do some more dancing, only this time with Bening, and there are scenes just like in Billy Elliot down narrow back alleys and in terraced streets, only this time time they are in Liverpool rather than Newcastle.

I loved how true to real life in 1979-81 this film felt. It made me aware of having lived through that time as a uni student, with some things very familiar (price of a pint, wallpaper patterns) and others less so (The lack of cars parked in the streets in those days when ownership was probably less than one car per household, compared to the multi-vehicle homes of today).

Seeing the posters of the Liverpool Labour Party back then (and how this pre-dates Derek Hatton) reminded me of my own early activist years, and for some reason I had a vivid memory of walking home from election night in Brighton, somehow conscious that Thatcher’s victory would change the world I lived in.

Bell and Bening’s romance is both believable and extraordinary at the same time. What would a 28 year old man be doing with a woman twice his age, but Bell carries it off well, as does Bening, as she copes with fading stardom and what she fears are fading looks.

But talking of ageing actresses, Vanessa Redgrave also pops up for one scene as Grahame’s Mum. And as she always seems to do, she just stood out for her fantastic voice in the few lines she had in this film.

The film is not uplifting, but it is fun in places. It is dark and it is light. It’s really as close to real life as you can get, I guess. And maybe that’s why I enjoyed it.

****

Bea says: I knew nothing at all of this film prior to seeing (something that usually pays off, I find) and I really enjoyed this bittersweet and unusual love story.  I liked that it was between an older woman and younger man (rarely addressed), and that it was based on truth.  I also enjoyed the settings of 1970s/80s Liverpool (particularly the scene where people just stood about on the street - no one does that now), and of LA and the incredible contrast it would have been to a young person from Liverpool at the time.  It is several weeks since we have seen it now, and many, many scenes have been returning to me; dinner in Gloria's little transportable house on the beach in LA, dancing in the Hampstead flat, reading Romeo and Juliet to an empty theatre but so meaningful.  Superbly written, never overdone or overplayed by the wonderful cast.  A pleasure, as good stories should be, even when they don't follow the usual formulas.

****