Man in a grey jacket and pleated necktie prepares to take a photograph with a camera that pointed toward the viewer. He is holding up a finger.

The Master

Since word of its development spread, The Master (2012) has been considered the director’s “Scientology movie.” While it does draw from the mythos of L. Ron Hubbard’s life and writings, it is much more than that. A reflection on the trauma that afflicted many servicemen in World War II, a battle of wills between a charismatic leader who champions reason and a gruff loner who too gladly gives into his desires, and another text about found families, The Master (2012) remains PTA’s most enigmatic work to date. The film found PTA continuing to lean into a more abstract mode than in his early work.

After returning from the Pacific theater, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) wanders into the orbit of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The latter leads an organization-cum-cult named The Cause, for which Freddie becomes a devotee and guard dog. The two men feel a curious connection as they travel across the U.S. spreading the “Master’s” gospel and provide each other with what they lack in life: logic and vulgarity. Over time, however, the pair begin to sense that their union can only be temporary.

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A man in an army helmet.
A man at the top of a coconut tree.
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A sandy beach.
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A man sips from a coconut.
A group of men wrestle on the beach.
A group of men wrestle on the beach.
A man chops coconuts on the beach.
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A group of men huddle around a sand sculpture of a woman on a beach.
A group of men huddle around a sand sculpture of a woman.
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A man lays down next to sand sculpture of a woman.
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Woman poses for picture
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A ship sails underneath the Golden Gate Bridge
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A group of people sit around a table with radios.
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A woman sits with headphones on.
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A woman smiles at a man seated across from her.
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A man carries a first aid kit down a flight of stairs.
A man below deck of a ship.
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A man drinks from a metal jug.
A hand pours a yellow liquid into two glasses.
Two glasses clinking.
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Two men sit at a table together.
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A man slaps himself.
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A sailor embraces a woman over the threshold of her house.
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A woman sits next to a sailor on a bench.
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A ship's wake in the ocean.
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A man sitting in a room.
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Two men yell at each other through jail cell bars
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The front page a book. Text reads
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A man operates a camera in the desert
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Man fixes man's hair
A man gets his photo taken
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Man and woman walk in desert
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Two men walk down hallway as students walk by
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Woman holds drink and sits with friends
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Man and woman have sex in bed
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Text on a black screen. Text reads
Text on a black screen. Text reads
Text on a black screen. Text reads