At the center of Azazel Jacobs‘ His Three Daughters is the expedition on grief. One of the strongest emotions we can feel, it has the power to tear us down and leave us vulnerable, yet grief can also bind us together through a shared experience. Jacobs’ powerful drama follows three disparate sisters who find themselves experiencing this journey, as they reunite in a New York apartment to take care of their terminally ill father in his last moments. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year, a fine piece of drama elevated by stunning performances from its three all star leads.
The opening scene illustrates Jacobs’ trust in his seasoned cast, as he starts with a straight monologue from Katie (Carrie Coon) chastising her sister Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) for not having their father Vincent (Jay O. Sanders) sign a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) form while he’s still lucid. At first, Rachel seems to be content with only getting high and checking over her sports bets rather than communicate with her sisters. Her detached attitude irritates Katie, who as the eldest, has taken it upon herself to be the adult in the room, doing all the necessary tasks that’s needed to be done. The youngest of the three, Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), is more motherly and warm, and appears to be the one spending the most time watching over their father.
His Three Daughters does not exactly have a plot. It is a film featuring characters just talking, and Jacobs’ ability to write natural dialogue is at full display here. We learn so much about the three sisters just through their conversations with each other. Katie, who’s having problems with her rebellious teenage daughter, rarely visits their father despite living nearby in Brooklyn; Christina, now settled as a suburban mom, used to be a big music festival goer and a Grateful Dead fan (and probably misses that part of her life too); Rachel lives with their dad and has been the only one taking care of him in his declining health.
For almost the entire runtime, the film takes place in their father’s New York apartment, with the occasional scene shot outside when Rachel smokes weed. And as we go further into the film, this place gets more claustrophobic, especially for the three sisters, who are not necessarily estranged, but it’s been a while since they’ve spent time together under one roof. They find themselves struggling to coexist in this apartment, and these women (Katie and Rachel specifically) can’t help but go at each other for the most part, with their clashing personalities and unresolved grievances have been unearthed by their shared grief of what they are about to lose.
By having Vincent remain off screen for most of the film, it allows us to focus on the three leads to let them shine. Coon, Olsen and Lyonne makes the most out of Jacobs’ character-driven screenplay, delivering the best performances of their careers. From the start, they make these women feel like real people with their own nuances, having conversations and arguments that’s as organic as the ones we’ve had in real life.
To say that their father eventually dies in the end is not a spoiler. Jacobs’ well constructed drama understands the inevitability of death, and the process of waiting for a loved one to die is an exhausting and agonizing endeavor, often leaving no room for an emotional respite. His Three Daughters, now on Netflix, is poignant in tackling something that most of us will have to do at some point in our lives – saying goodbye to a parent – and it feels true in a lot of ways than what we usually see by Hollywood standards. By the end of the film, it certainly feels like I have gone on the same journey as the three sisters.
Rating:
The Talking Screen 