---
title: "The Master"
year: 2012
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-master"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 25
published: "2026-09-16T12:54:15.309098+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T12:54:15.769731+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Master (2012)

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson · 2h 17m · MPA R · Drama

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 78 from 25 reviews

*In a sentence:* Philip Seymour Hoffman has acquired a follower who makes leading look like hard work

> Paul Thomas Anderson’s *The Master* is absorbing, troubling and superbly acted, with Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman making an uneasy attachment feel painfully necessary. It loses momentum, but the performances give us reason enough to stay.

## Synopsis

In post-war America, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a troubled veteran and alcoholic, drifts into the company of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a charismatic leader whose community offers him somewhere to belong. Freddie wants relief from a civilian life he cannot settle into. Dodd takes an interest in him, bringing the unsettled newcomer into a circle that includes Peggy Dodd (Amy Adams). The prospect of guidance draws Freddie closer, but his erratic behaviour makes him a difficult follower. Their growing attachment puts the leader’s authority alongside the veteran’s need for help.

## Review

*The Master* is a disturbing, absorbing drama whose performances keep us interested when its story begins to drift. Paul Thomas Anderson follows a troubled veteran into the company of a charismatic leader in post-war America, then pays close attention to how much each man needs the other. There is room here for affection, vanity and the wish to be told how to live. The performances make those needs hard to separate, though the film spends longer exploring them than it can always justify.

As Freddie Quell, Joaquin Phoenix makes self-disgust difficult to look at without turning it into a plea for sympathy. We found him painful to watch: the drunkenness and erratic behaviour carry the weariness of someone who cannot get comfortable with himself. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives Lancaster Dodd enough warmth to make Freddie’s attraction credible. His authority has the assurance of a man accustomed to being listened to, and his interest in Freddie complicates it. We can understand the appeal of his company without accepting his right to take charge.

Amy Adams, as Peggy Dodd, keeps the relationship from becoming a closed conversation between the two leads. She gives the community a firmness that makes Dodd’s fascination with Freddie seem a potentially troublesome indulgence. That is a valuable complication in a drama about a cult, where exposing the leader as a fraud would be the easy way to proceed. Paul Thomas Anderson is more interested in why someone might stay, even when belonging requires an uncomfortable degree of obedience.

Cinematographers Baz Idoine and Mihai Malaimare Jr. give the film images worth looking at for longer than the story strictly requires. The opening view of a ship’s wake is particularly absorbing, and its return gives us something familiar to hold on to amid Freddie’s uncertainty. The 65mm photography gives a private, uncomfortable attachment the visual scale we might expect from a much busier period drama. There are stretches when looking becomes the main pleasure, which helps explain both the fascination and the impatience the film can produce.

Production designers Jack Fisk and David Crank make the period setting convincing without making its accuracy the main attraction. The period detail helps us accept the community as somewhere a lost veteran might seek a home, which matters when the leader’s appeal might otherwise seem remote. Jonny Greenwood’s score is less reassuring. Its restlessness keeps the film uneasy even when we have begun to settle into the men’s company, and supplies some of the momentum the storytelling occasionally lacks.

Editors Leslie Jones and Peter McNulty let the story move unevenly, with gaps and changes of emphasis that suit Freddie’s instability. This is often effective, since a neat account of his progress would make him easier to explain than the performance allows. It also means the film can revisit the same attraction and resistance without making either more revealing. At 137 minutes, it has room for uncertainty, but the later stretches sometimes ask us to treat another unsettled encounter as a development, and we felt our attention slacken.

That drift is a real limitation, and patience will not make every passage necessary. Still, the actors keep finding recognisable need in people whose behaviour can be forbidding, and the film gives their attachment an emotional weight that an explanation of the cult could scarcely improve. We recommend it for those performances and for its willingness to make companionship this uncomfortable. Choose it when there is time to watch closely, and no requirement that everyone make sense.

*Fi1m score 84, published 16 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to The Master, with praise concentrated on Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s tense, unpredictable relationship. Phoenix’s damaged drifter and Hoffman’s charismatic leader give the reviews their clearest point of agreement, while several also single out Amy Adams. Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction, the large-format cinematography, period detail and Jonny Greenwood’s score draw admiration. The film is widely read as a study of dependence, authority and human vulnerability rather than a direct exposé of Scientology.

The spread is broad, however, and agreement on the acting does not extend to the storytelling. Admirers find the ambiguity emotionally rewarding; others question the pacing, thin plot and loss of momentum towards the end. Film Comment welcomes the unresolved relationships and unconventional structure. Slant Magazine offers the sharpest dissent, finding little substance beneath the polished surface despite admiring the performances and score.

### Reviews we read (25)

- **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (5/5/5): The Master is a confounding yet intoxicating spiritual post-war love story that restores faith in cinema through its technical perfection and emotional depth. The critic praises its oceanic resonance and the performances that explore trauma, obsession, and human connection. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-master)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (5/5): Anderson delivers a captivating, heady portrait of warped power and fanaticism with commanding performances and striking 65mm visuals. The critic highlights the intense, unpredictable chemistry between Phoenix's disturbed loner and Hoffman's charismatic leader. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-master)
- **Film Comment**, Kent Jones (90/100, inferred): The critic finds The Master a grandly scaled and rewardingly knotty film that resists easy condemnation of its Scientology-inspired subject, instead exploring irresolution between characters with bold, exciting structure and performances. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-master-paul-thomas-anderson-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (90/100, inferred): This is a superbly crafted, moody and disturbing film about personality, obsession and delusion. It mesmerizes through its intense connection between the two leads and Anderson's all-in visionary direction. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-sep-13-la-et-mn-the-master-20120914-story.html)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): Paul Thomas Anderson delivers a brilliant, mysterious and unbearably sad film about a drifter bonding with a cult leader in postwar America. The critic praises its formal distinction, powerful performances and exploration of personal and ideological dynamics. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/01/the-master-review)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (90/100, inferred): The film is an imposing, confounding and altogether amazing work about the lure and folly of greatness. It comes close to being a great movie itself through its glorious and haunting symphony of color, emotion and sound. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/movies/review-the-master-from-paul-thomas-anderson.html)
- **Empire**, Damon Wise (85/100, inferred): PTA's novelistic character drama focuses on the symbiotic tension between two men rather than any Scientology exposé, with a negligible plot that rewards revisiting for its impressionistic style. The critic highlights the terrific central performances by Phoenix and Hoffman and the luminous visual beauty of this poetic, lyrically shot post-war tale. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/master-review/)
- **The Independent** (85/100, inferred): Anderson delivers an elusive, elliptical portrait of a damaged post-war drifter drawn into a charismatic cult leader's orbit. The critic singles out the powerful central performances, especially Phoenix's fractured anti-hero and Hoffman's magnetic guru, along with the film's haunting, non-linear exploration of American reintegration and performance. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-master-paul-thomas-anderson-144-mins-15-8280351.html)
- **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (4/5): Anderson creates another richly evoked American period drama driven by powerful lead performances, but it fails to fully take dramatic flight in the final act. The critic singles out the symbiotic mentor-pupil relationship between Phoenix and Hoffman as the film's vital core. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-6x4l9s/the-master/)
- **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): The Master is a polished, provocative and at times stirringly powerful work with lingering resonance, driven by impressive lead performances. The critic singles out the bold story of a lost soul finding solace in a charismatic cult leader and the strong supporting turn from Amy Adams. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-master/5045966.article)
- **Evening Standard** (70/100, inferred): The film is a difficult, obscure power play between a feral alcoholic and a cult-like master reminiscent of L. Ron Hubbard that repays close attention despite its length and lack of conventional story. The critic praises the towering performances by Phoenix and Hoffman, Greenwood's compelling score, and the rich 65mm cinematography while noting its originality makes it hard to grasp on first viewing. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-master-cert-15-144-mins-review-8276756.html)
- **Sight and Sound**, Nick Pinkerton (70/100, inferred): The film is a divided work centered on two American archetypes whose relationship has a great movie inside it but ultimately falls short of greatness. The critic singles out Joaquin Phoenix's performance as Freddie Quell for its raw, erratic intensity as a study in damaged stasis. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-master)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the extraordinary character study and career-defining performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, but notes the film is perplexing and questions if it adds up to the sum of its brilliant parts. It is not a Scientology exposé. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/master-venice-review-367129/)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): The film is a sustained immersion in hypnotic moods and longueurs that refuses to conform to expectations. It gives much to revere, especially its opening and recurring image of a ship's wake, despite some cavils about its pacing and composition. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/09/17/sail-away-2)
- **Variety**, Justin Chang (70/100, inferred): The film achieves a teasing, richly unsettling apotheosis in its story of a troubled veteran drawn to and repelled by a mysterious community resembling Scientology. It is a wry but not uncompassionate study of human vulnerability and suggestibility. [Read](https://variety.com/2012/film/markets-festivals/the-master-1117948152/)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (60/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a chilly, cerebral, and austere experience that explores fundamental American tensions like individualism versus gullibility but ultimately clarifies nothing and leaves the viewer brooding on confusion. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2012/09/edelstein-on-the-master.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Calum Marsh (40/100, inferred): The critic admires some minor gestures, the score, and the riveting performances but finds the film thin and disappointing overall, with Anderson's edges sanded off and a lack of substance beneath its cool aesthetic. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-master/)
- **/Film**, Russ Fischer (9/10): The critic finds the film mesmerizing and beautiful in its exploration of power, friendship, and faith through the relationship between Freddie and Dodd, despite occasional maddening moments. The review singles out the exquisite craftsmanship, performances, and genuine emotional core for praise. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/522943/the-master-review-paul-thomas-andersons-inquisitive-maddening-vision-of-power-and-friendship/)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (8.9/10): The critic finds the film dense and challenging after one viewing but praises the hypnotic direction, performances by Phoenix, Hoffman, and Adams, and technical craft; respects it highly but needs more viewings to fully appreciate. [Read](https://collider.com/the-master-review/)
- **NME**, Owen Nicholls (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it one of the year's best films, praising Phoenix's outstanding performance and the film's exploration of faith and manipulation, while noting it matches There Will Be Blood in ambition though it may be an acquired taste. [Read](https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/the-master-the-years-finest-film-782559)
- **Digital Spy**, Simon Reynolds (4/5): The critic highlights the mesmerising performances by Hoffman and Phoenix in a bold drama about authority and delusion, with assured direction and hypnotic score, though it runs out of steam slightly by the end while still lingering in the mind. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a434406/the-master-review-paul-thomas-anderson-directs-mesmerising-drama/)
- **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Anderson's direction of an ambiguous, shifting tale about a troubled veteran drawn to a charismatic cult leader, focusing on their father-son dynamic rather than a direct critique of Scientology. The review singles out the film's messy, multi-layered structure and its parallels to cinema itself for praise. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-master-2012-film-review-by-anton-bitel)
- **The Skinny**, Jamie Dunn (4/5): The critic admires the dead-on period detail, Jonny Greenwood's score, and especially Phoenix's self-loathing performance, along with the fascinating addition of Amy Adams' character in the master-servant dynamic. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-master)
- **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (3/5): The critic praises the brilliant acting, especially Phoenix and Hoffman, and strong technical elements, but finds the film less satisfying overall than Anderson's prior works like There Will Be Blood due to less compelling characters and subject matter. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-master-review/)
- **The Wrap** (55/100, inferred): The critic finds the film impressive in its craftsmanship and visuals but strangely disengaged overall. They single out the 70mm cinematography and lead performances for praise while complaining that it lacks the emotional resonance and narrative sweep of Anderson's best work. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/master-review-about-scientology-or-not-emotionally-its-just-running-cruise-control-56266/)

## Details

- **Director:** Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Director:** Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Writer:** Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Cinematography:** Mihai Malaimare Jr., Baz Idoine
- **Editor:** Leslie Jones, Peter McNulty
- **Music:** Jonny Greenwood
- **Production design:** David Crank, Jack Fisk
- **Costume design:** Mark Bridges
- **Producer:** Daniel Lupi, Megan Ellison, Paul Thomas Anderson
- **Cast:** Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell; Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd; Amy Adams as Peggy Dodd; Rami Malek as Clark; Laura Dern as Helen Sullivan; Jesse Plemons as Val Dodd; Ambyr Childers as Elizabeth Dodd; Madisen Beaty as Doris Solstad
- **Runtime:** 2h 17m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 21 September 2012
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Budget:** $32 million
- **Box office:** $28 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RApl06pYIuU

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- The Roku Channel: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Amazon Prime Video: free
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $5.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, CA, CH, CO, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, ID, IE, IT, NL, NO, NZ, PH, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2013: Best Actor (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Servant* (1963): For another intimate struggle over who gets to give the orders.
- *Persona* (1966): Two women and an intimacy that becomes increasingly difficult to bear.
- *A Woman Under the Influence* (1974): For a performance that makes ordinary company feel almost physically impossible.
- *Martha Marcy May Marlene* (2011), Fi1m 84: A more direct account of the damage done by a controlling community. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/martha-marcy-may-marlene.md)
- *The Disciple* (2020): Another pupil discovers how much devotion can demand of a life.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-master