Daniel Day-Lewis (in reportedly his last film) plays a celebrated dressmaker in 50s London who runs his design house and his personal home with a meticulous, measured style. However, this isn’t about fashion. Although that’s the rarified world this film inhabits, it quickly becomes a strained and strange love story. A young woman from a different background (Vicky Krieps) becomes his muse, but their relationship turns twisted. There is a peek into the creative process and some lovely clothes, but this is much more a look at a fastidious man and the passion that disrupts his routine. Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson has beautifully created an elegant world and allowed the actors to underplay their best. This unique experience is quietly elegant, essentially subdued and ultimately strange.
(4 / 5)