Paul Thomas Anderson shares his 'heroic' take on 'One Battle After Another' criticism

Paul Thomas Anderson has finally spoken out about his socio-political family action dramedy One Battle After Another.

At the 2026 Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, Anderson was asked about the message for society in One Battle After Another, as the best-winning movies usually mirror the mood of society.

Responding to the question, the 55-year-old American filmmaker said with a high, “I thought we were supposed to be partying!”

He then answered, “Our film obviously has a certain amount of parallels to what’s happening in the news everyday, so it obviously reflects what’s happening in the world.”

Notably, in One Battle After Another, Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverly Hills and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob Ferguson, members of far-left revolutionary group the French 75, raid a military-controlled ICE-like encampment and set free the prisoners.

“In terms of where it’s going – I don’t know. But I know that the end of our movie is our hero, Willa [Ferguson], heading off to continue to fight against evil forces, and I think like I said in my speech, at least put common and decency back into fashion,” Anderson noted, referring to Chase Infiniti’s character.

Another journalist asked Anderson about the portrayal of racial politics, such as the inclusion of Black females in the film, as well as his response regarding criticism the film has received.

The three-times Oscar winner said he knows “a little bit about that critique” but is aware of the fact that “Teyana has talked about it a lot.”

“I know we have the portrayal of many different characters, in particular her character who is so flawed, and unfortunately makes decisions that are detrimental to the revolution she is trying to fight,” he explained, referring to Taylor’s character Perfidia.

It is important to note that One Battle After Another revolves around Perfidia, who acts as the catalyst. She betrays her revolutionary group French 7 and eventually leaves her partner Bob and their daughter Willa.

In addition, the Hard Eight director clearly admitted that he “always knew we were trying to make something complicated” rather than “heroic.”

“And we needed to lean into that, and we needed to own the fact that this woman was suffering not only from postpartum depression, but she was suffering from issues of her own, that she hadn’t really reconciled with,” Paul Thomas Anderson elaborated.