What star Daniel Day Lewis says will be his final movie gets rave reviews ahead of Christmas release.
There is nothing like a grand farewell unless it is a rousing comeback and previous retiree Daniel Day Lewis has been here before, but Paul Thomas Anderson's "Phantom Thread" is supposedly Day Lewis's last movie before retiring, again. A final bravura turn from a masterful actor.
"Well, I don't know. I hope it's not true and if it's true it's his decision. I respect people who take decisions in their life, it's important," said Phantom Thread's female lead Vicky Krieps.
Lesley Manville, a frequent Mike Leigh ensemble member, plays the sister to Day Lewis's character.
"Well you know, it's sad in a way because I'm sure everyone would like him to make more films, carry on. But, you know, it's not something I can discuss, it's his personal decision," she says.
"Phantom Thread" is a love story set in the 1950s fashion world, in a postwar Britain entering the Elizabethean jet age, with war a recent memory and glimpses of a tantalising future of possibilities in sight.
For some critics and many fans the movie is a return to the grandeurs of 2007's "There will be blood", when Anderson last had Day Lewis's magic to work with.
Universal gave Anderson his second-biggest budget ever, and have given the movie a Christmas release. Someone in the boardroom must be banking on a feel-good factor to express that sort of confidence.