This film was brilliant, most definitely Hollywoods’ best film of this decade (so far). I will sidestep the normal plot synopsis I usually do and focus on one aspect of the film I found particularly interesting
(Warning: Spoilers ahead)
Plainview’s sexual ambiguity throughout the film to me demonstrates how he is the epitome of a sociopath, he severs every human contact he has by the end of the film, even killing his “nemesis”. His imitation brother represents the breaking point for Plainview, once he discovers that this man is not who he claims to be he no longer feels ties to anyone, it’s as if his this man pretending to be his brother and HW represent his only ties to humanity, and once HW loses his hearing and he kills the brother he is at the point of no return. Yet even before this collapse he never shows the slightest interest in anything outside of his own material gain, he looks on disgusted at his “brother” while at the brothel, sitting in the darkness. It appears as if material gain gives him the only pleasure he experiences. What I liked a lot was how Anderson neither makes him straight nor gay, he leaves the audience to interpret what they will. You could say that he was gay and that the society in which he lived would not accept him as this, and instead of faking being somebody he isn’t he decides to show no preference, looking upon everyone as an obstacle to be overcome. And if he is straight then why the restraint? Perhaps his ambition in early life led to him focus on career over social life, and this lack of socialization and further descent into capital obsession made him look upon other humans as merely tools for him to gain more, to own more. Perhaps someone can interpret better than I can, but I find it equally intriguing and disturbing how this character demonstrates no interest in sexuality.