An argument for Phantom Thread as a dark comedy disguised as a period drama.

Reynolds Woodcock is a monster in the mode of a certain kind of brilliant man who has organized the world around his own fragility. Every food that disturbs his concentration, every sound that violates his morning, every request on his attention — these are presented with the gravity of a man defending civilization itself.

But PTA's camera is not entirely sympathetic to this. The film keeps showing us the women around Reynolds — his sister, and then Alma — enduring his neuroses with a patience that the film frames as labor. What Alma eventually does is the film's hinge, and what makes Phantom Thread a dark comedy rather than a tragedy is that Alma's solution is not a revolution but a negotiation.

The final scene, which I won't describe, is one of the most specific and strange endings PTA has ever committed to. It leaves the question of whether this is a love story or a horror story deliberately open. Both readings are supported. I think both readings are correct.