The Master

The Master

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson; 137 minutes; 2012.

Every film is an experiment.  No one knows how a film will turn out until the last edit is finished and time passes.  This is one of the wonderful aspects of filmmaking, but the least understood by critics and the public.  When a studio and distributor gets behind a film, hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake.  No one on the marketing side is ever going to say, “Hey this was a good try but not a very good film.”

Not every film has to be the runaway hit of the season, or a sure Oscar contender, or the best film ever made in the history of the world.  Films like “The Master” should be judged within the context of a lifetime of work.  Some films turn out to be better than others.  Each film can be understood and appreciated more deeply if seen on a continuum of films made over a career.

The marketing campaign for “The Master” wants this film to be declared an American classic.  By any honest evaluation it is not a classic nor is it even an excellent film.  

I want to examine the female characters in “The Master” to help understand one aspect of this film.  Peggy, Lancaster’s wife, currently pregnant, is strong and determined.  However, she is not an independent fully realized character.  She functions only in relationship to Lancaster.  She is bearing his child.  She protects him and what he is interested in.  She pleasures and demeans Lancaster at the same time by giving him a hand job to lessen his sexual desire so her won’t wander from the marriage.

Lancaster’s daughter, Elizabeth, serves no function at all in the story.  She makes a play for Freddie that comes out of nowhere and is unbelievable.

There are two more nameless women that fall under Freddie’s spell and end up in bed with him.  These are two more anonymous objects of desire.  Their purpose in the narrative is to show that Freddie is quite a ladies man and can bed anyone when he looks at.  These women are powerless objects.

Then of course there is an object of desire that is the replica of a naked woman with legs spread out and giant breasts made out of sand.  It turns out this is Freddie’s only true love.

Doris is Freddie’s supposed real love.  She is about seven years younger and is a sophomore in high school when Freddie joins the navy and goes off to World War II.  Doris is portrayed as the major reason that makes Freddie so unhappy.  There is no substance or narrative reality to their relationship so it has no emotional impact.  We see Freddie visit Doris in flashbacks throughout the film in meaningless scenes.  Finally Freddie takes a job on a freighter and tells Doris he’s leaving, doesn’t know when he’ll be back, and doesn’t know where he’s going.  Freddie is quite a catch.  He proves that he doesn’t give a damn about Doris.

The Freddie/Doris relationship illustrates one of the main faults of “The Master”.  Just because Paul Thomas Anderson, or one of the characters says something is true, doesn’t mean it is true.  The film suggests that one of the main reason why Freddie is so unhappy is the failed love affair with Doris.  This is a hollow reason and it doesn’t resonate.  The movie actually shows that Freddie does not care at all about Doris. The whole film tries to force a narrative truth on the viewer that just isn’t there.

It was originally Lancaster’s story and it should have stayed Lancaster’s story.  During early rehearsals it was changed to Freddie’s story.  It wasn’t Freddie’s story and to film it that way weakened the narrative truth.

“The Master” is like an incoherent but well orated sermon.  It’s supposed to be important so we listen really hard and try to make sense of it.  Half way through we realize there is no theme, it’s impossible to follow the logic, it clings to abstract references from the past, and the director is just making things up as he goes along.  Not every film is a good film, even if it is dressed up like something meaningful.