I walked in knowing I am going to like this. But the inarguably great filmmaker that he is, Paul Thomas Anderson only boosted this bias of mine.

The romantic tension in this film is just too palpable. Love at first sight happens like matter-of-fact. It is romance at its purest, but with a train of subtexts running underneath various events. There’s toxic masculinity being dealt with by a woman who asks the man “Who even are you being strong for?”

He appreciates her in his own way, which almost comes off as if he is using her, but it actually is genuine admiration. On the other hand, she also wants to love him in ways of her own world. His idea of love is adding onto her beauty with his work. Her idea of love is to be the only person he turns to at his weakest, get him when he’s soft. These are two people who aren’t ready to give up on their respective individualities. PTA directs these shifts in dynamics with spiralling staircases, mushroom-induced-hallucinations, and an outstanding cast. He stages borderline toxic love in a way that doesn’t feel distasteful.

The greatness of Daniel Day Lewis can be seen in the vein on his forehead. It is visible in dialogue-less moments where we are supposed to know he’s tensed and vulnerable. “Acting is in his veins”? What more can I say. Vicky Krieps as his lover, stands as good with that pink-turning face of hers. She quips the veteran in that dinner table scene of theirs, where she’s not exactly able to word what she’s “waiting for” with regards to him. This is a woman whose feelings we understand, but at the same time empathise with her for not being able to say them out loud. It is easy to get pissed at such a character, but she is why this works in the intended way.

Anderson has written and made this film to show how the smallest of fabrics in a relationship are important to the bigger picture of bonding between two people. This includes either of their opinions towards being loud at breakfast, or their preference of pouring water into a glass from a certain height. These small things underline what they are, and not their artistic relationship. Such small, phantom threads bind one whole piece of clothing.

These intricate parallels are just value-adding easter eggs to what is already a great story in its bones. This is storytelling at its enchanting best. Paul Thomas Anderson’s name might not be as “out there” as a Nolan or a Tarantino, but a filmography like his is something even contemporary greats would kill for. Among the greatest alive, indeed.