Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.
Daniel Day-Lewis announced that he was retiring from acting and that the Phantom Thread would be his last film. Unlike Peyton Manning, who retired after wining the Super Bowl, Phantom Thread will not provide Day-Lewis with a similar winning moment. The actor is famous for losing himself in his roles and he certainly does that again as Reynolds Woodcock, a designer in 1950s London who is fawned over by his wealthy and royal clients. Day-Lewis has the designer act down, from the way he handles a needle to the constant sketching of gowns to the meltdown when his fashions are being paraded before the critics. Like so many artists, Woodcock is single-minded in his approach, relegating those around him to a supporting cast that is necessary, although on most occasions annoying.
Daniel Day-Lewis and Lesley Manville
Woodcock’s company and, in fact, the designer himself, is managed by his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville). A confirmed bachelor, Woodcock even leaves it up to Cyril to break off relationships, which we are led to believe, never last for very long. That’s until he meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), a waitress he meets on one of his visits to his countryside home. Shortly after ordering his breakfast (Welsh raerebit with a poached egg on top, bacon, sausages, jam-not strawberry-and lapsang tea), he invites her to dinner. After the meal, he undresses her, not to have sex, but to design a dress for her. At this point, we know Alma is never returning to waitressing, but will become his muse.
Vicky Krieps
Alma is a curious choice for Woodcock’s inspiration. And here director Paul Thomas Anderson does something quite right, casting the unknown Krieps as Woodcock’s Eliza Doolittle. She’s not conventionally beautiful, but she commands attention when on screen, particularly when she’s wearing one of Woodcock’s creations. The fashions are breathtaking. (Costume designer – Mark Bridges)
Alma is no fool. She not only falls in love with Woodcock, but she understands him and what he needs. It comes down to one thing – mothering. Woodcock still has dreams about his mother and the wedding dress he designed for her when he was a child. Cyril may have once fulfilled that role, but now Alma is committed to taking over. And what’s the one thing that mothers do best? Taking care, lovingly, of a sick child. In Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, mushrooms were used to off a Union solider. Alma won’t go that far, but her omelette soon have Woodcock as her patient, and a willing one at that.
Woodcock, Hitchcock? The parallels are there, making Phantom Thread less about romance and more about survival.
Top: Vicky Krieps and Daniel Day-Lewis Photo Credit : Laurie Sparham / Focus Features
Ah, Father’s Day when we celebrate dear old dad. This year instead of giving him an lousy tie, consider a family bonding experience like going out to the movies. Or staying in with one of the following movies about the paternal bond.
Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979) Robert Benton adapted and directed this tearjerker from the novel by Avery Corman. Workaholic ad-man Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) is shocked when his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) leaves him to raise their son Billy alone. It’s tough going for a while, but over time Ted and Billy develop a closer bond – at which point Joanna comes back wanting custody. It received five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
Father of the Bride (1991) A remake of the 1950 comedy of the same name. George Banks (Steve Martin) is a successful businessman, happily married to Nina (Diane Keaton) and with an extremely close relationship to his eldest child and only daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams in her film debut). When Annie announces her whirlwind romance and engagement to rich young Brian McKenzie (George Newbern) dad finds he’s not ready to give his little girl away. There’s an hysterical performance by Martin Short as the wedding planner the family hires. The film was both financially successfully earning back four times its budget and positively reviewed by critics as well.
In the Name of the Father (1993) Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In America) directed and co-wrote this courtroom drama based on the true story of the Guildford Four. Young hoodlum Gerry Conlon (the only and only Daniel Day-Lewis) is arrested on false suspicion of terrorism and tortured to confess along with three of his compatriots. When Gerry’s father Giusseppe (the late great Peter Postlethwaite) goes to England to help his son, he’s arrested as well as a co-conspirator. After a ridiculous sham trial everyone is sent to prison with Gerry and Guisseppe being assigned to the same facility and indeed being cellmates. The movie gets a lot of great drama from the courtroom antics with Emma Thompson playing Gerry’s lawyer, but the heart of the film is the bonding that takes place between father and son behind bars. The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress for Thompson, Best Supporting Actor for Postlethwaite, and yet another Best Actor nomination for Day-Lewis.
He Got Game (1998) This sports drama was written and directed by Spike Lee starring Denzel Washington, in the third of the four movie collaborations the two have done together. Denzel plays Jake Shuttlesworth a convicted murderer whose son Jesus (real life NBA star Ray Allen) is the number one high school basketball player in the country with colleges fighting over him. Jake is given an one week furlough by the governor with the condition; if he gets Jesus to play for the governor’s alma mater, he’ll be released early from prison. Milla Jovovich , John Turturro, and Rosario Dawson round out the cast. It has an 80% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for three NAACP film awards.
Finding Nemo(2003) Overprotective clown fish Marlin (Albert Brooks in one of his best roles,) goes across the ocean to rescue his lost son Nemo, and along the way has a series of adventures while meeting a fabulous cast of characters including Dory (Ellen Degeneres) a blue tang who suffers from short term memory loss, surfer dude tortoise Crush (Andrew Stanton) and Bruce (Barry Humphries) a white shark trying to go vegetarian with mixed results. It was the highest grossing animated movie of all time AND helped establish Pixar’s reputation not only for CGI wizardry but also heartfelt storytelling. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture and was nominated for three other awards including Best Original Screenplay.
