Paul Thomas Anderson's latest is more in the vein of There Will Be Blood than Magnolia or Boogie Nights, meaning it's tighly focused on a very small, richly-developed cast rather than a glut of competing, interwoven storylines. Really, there are only three characters who matter: an intense, controlling dress-maker (Daniel Day-Lewis), his steady, all-business sister (Lesley Manville) and his young, headstrong new muse (Vicky Krieps). Their relationship is complicated, a careful balance of ticks, emotions and triggers that frequently threatens to collapse, but somehow manages to remain upright. They badger and provoke each other, testing for weakness between fleeting moments of warmth and compassion, and this flood of dense, competing emotion fuels their creative output.

Like many of Anderson's other films, Phantom Thread is quite slow, breezily coasting through snippets and snapshots of the trio's various liaisons - sibling, professional and romantic - and doesn't always settle on a firm message or meaning. We're merely documenting a small tangle of lives, complete with unsightly quirks and personality-driven hardships, as they learn to coexist and endure/accept one another's shortcomings. It's a film I enjoyed more upon reflection, thinking over the various layers of subtext and character motivation, than I did while I was watching it.