Original interpretation — not a still from the production
A film about tailoring that is really a film about who is permitted to interrupt breakfast.
The Continental Verdict
Essential
Anderson filmed a couture house the way other directors film a monastery: hushed stairwells, women climbing at dawn, a man at the top who believes his routine is a moral position. The clothes are exquisite and largely beside the point. What the picture is actually about is the negotiation of power between two people who have both decided they will not be the one to yield.
It is very funny, which nobody warns you about. Day-Lewis's Woodhouse can wither a room over the volume of butter on toast. And it contains the single most useful lesson in the whole of the well-dressed canon: the finest garment in the room means nothing if the man wearing it cannot be pleasant before ten o'clock.
Why Watch It
The Gentleman Factor
High marks for the cut, deductions for the manners. Woodhouse is the cautionary tale that keeps the canon honest.
Look Out For
- The fitting sequences, filmed as ritual
- The Victoria & Albert-grade lace on the Belgian princess's gown
- Every breakfast
The Locations
Fitzrovia townhouse interiors and a bleak, beautiful Blackpool-adjacent coast; the New Year's Eve ball at the Adelphi.
More from the travel pages →The Cars
The Bristol 405 — the correct car for a man who considers ostentation a defect.
More from motoring →The Wardrobe
Mark Bridges's work is a masterclass: Woodhouse's lavender socks, the soft-shouldered flannel, the deliberate ordinariness of his own suits against the couture he makes.
More on style →The Soundtrack
Jonny Greenwood's piano score; the finest thing he has written for film.
Into the music room →Watch Next
Where to Watch
Prime Video; the 4K disc is the one to own.
For the Collection
Also in The Well-Dressed Screen
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