PHANTOM THREAD Trailer: Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Fine 1950s Clothing

Paul Thomas Anderson makes mesmerizing movies.

I didn't see Hard Eight for years, unfortunately, but Boogie Nights entranced me through multiple viewings. I couldn't stop watching it - every time it appeared uncut on cable I was drawn back to it. And the same for Magnolia -- even though I pretty much hated it!

Seeing Punch-Drunk Love on opening day in a packed Los Angeles theater left me speechless, and then absorbing There Will Be Blood at Fantastic Fest from a seat that was far too close to the screen near popped every blood vein in my head. (A later outdoor viewing on one of its West Texas filming locations was just as memorable.)

Watching The Master, first on 35mm, and then on 70mm with my friend James, was another experience that plastered itself into my brain.

So I've written about screenings but not the films here, because I would never stop writing if I started writing about his films, but perhaps this conveys a portion of my excitement over seeing a few minutes of his next film, Phantom Thread, once again starring Daniel Day-Lewis, in the first trailer.

Here's the official synopsis:

Set in the glamour of 1950's post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock [Daniel Day-Lewis] and his sister Cyril [Lesley Manville] are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock's life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma [Vicky Krieps], who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love.

With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running. Phantom Thread is Paul Thomas Anderson's eighth movie, and his second collaboration with Daniel Day-Lewis.

The film will open on December 25. Enjoy luxuriating in the trailer (multiple times, perhaps) below.