Writer-Director Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master seems to act as a Rorschach test much like the one taken by Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) at the film's start. In its hazy form, viewers can see the story of a troubled man who looks for respite from psychological distress. Others can see a rebuke of Lancaster Dodd's (Philip Seymour Hoffman) charlatan ways as he writes and revises his cult's rules on the fly. Still others can see a chronicle of the strange ability of Dodd's seemingly ridiculous cult to actually have a profound effect on people. Some may suggest that it is a love story between Dodd and Freddie, as the film revolves around that curious unconsummated relationship. That closeness may also be construed as the relationship between the unruly puppy (Freddie) and the master who tries to tame it. With the omnipresence of Peggy Dodd (Amy Adams), the film might become an examination of power dynamics and leadership as we question who is really the movement's master. The film could be a tale of the trauma inflicted on society by World Wars and the beginning of a nuclear age (although the cause of Freddie's traumas seem to extend back further than that). If we're looking at the Rorschach from Freddie's perspective, we might even see that it's "a cock, actually, upside down," a look at man's crude attitude toward sexuality. By forgoing the typical hints and theme exposition of most films, The Master manages to be more than the sum of its parts. It finds us grasping - along with its main characters - at greater understanding in the face of lifetimes worth of horror and beauty.