To be honest I really don't know what I saw but what I saw it was really beautiful Phoenix has given a lifetime of his performance Anderson is a different kind of director he wants audience to think what is going on them in the movie to understand the significance of every scene Anderson want to show every detail in the movie and wants audience to enjoy that and think over it I don't know Philip Seymour Hoffman earlier but now with seeing this kind of performance this kind of character driven actor he has also given greatest performance . There should be fixed to Oscar to this 2 actors of this beautiful film

So many interesting characters with absolutely nothing done with them. Were some scenes in Freddie's imagination..? Really disappointing as I loved the set-up, but it went nowhere and had no real conclusion

Seen at the Viennale 2017: the story is not right (to me). The master (played brilliantly by Seymour Hoffman, 10 stars for his acting!) is preaching his philosophy of the character-development of human beings. And his theories go far: happenings in past lifes have effect on today's life of a person. But in the story itself it all collapses down to a simple failed love in the current life of Freddie Quell (completely over-acted by Phoenix - no wonder, he did not get an Oscar). Who ever tried a similar treatment for his own psyche, knows that true problems go so much deeper, than a missed love! Anderson was not able to catch the complexity (and possible beauty) of his subject. And it's really a shame - The Master was filmed onto 70 mm. And the festival here in Vienna showed a 70 mm copy on analog projection. Beautiful pictures and easily understandable spoken words. Overall, a missed opportunity, because of a lousy script.

My favourite film of 2012 ... probably my favourite film of the decade. It's nominally the story of two men who appear quite different on the surface, but are really strikingly similar. Hoffman's Lancaster Dodd is attracted to Phoenix's Freddy Quell because they have the same ferocious, restless anger, and unlike Dodd, Quell has no desire to be restrained. Quell is attracted to Dodd because Dodd manages to get inside Quell and get him to reveal himself ... Quell is convinced Dodd's religion must have some answers. More than this, it's a meticulous recreation of the style of classical Hollywood melodramas, both in the look and in the extraordinarily controlled performances Anderson gets from his cast, but without feeling like a slavish reproduction. It's both strikingly modern and classical in style ... an extension of Anderson's work on "There Will Be Blood".