2023/4 ‧Drama ‧ 101m
One of the more lamentable aspects of this era of streaming is when well received festival fare debuts for regular audiences, a film can feel more disposable. Hopefully His Three Daughters, a new Netflix release from last year’s TIFF, does not suffer such a fate.
The titular daughters belong to Vincent. Mostly unseen, he is slowly dying. His monitor beeps informing the audience that he is still alive. Having taken a turn for the worst, his three daughters, Katie, Rachel, and Christina have all gathered at his apartment to be with him when he passes. Hospice workers come to give the daughters a break and to give updates on Vincent’s condition. The film begins with Katie saying that they need to get along during their father’s last days. That anything between them can wait. Rachel, his only non-biological daughter, has been taking care of him while Katie and Christina have been with their families. Inevitably familial tensions rise, and we see if these daughters can also become sisters.
The film is written, directed, produced, and edited by Azazel Jacobs. An independent director probably best known for 2020’s French Exit. Jacobs places the film’s action almost entirely in the apartment, so we are given a rich character study of the three daughters. Though Jacobs is a man, and neither daughter or sister (as is this reviewer), he creates genuine relationships that are engaging and ring true. His characterizations of them walk the thin line between archetypal and cliché but that nuance is readily served by the film’s ensemble.
Katie, the oldest daughter played by Carrie Coon, is the put-together one. Though we hear through one sided phone conversations that she is having difficulty with her own daughter. Rachel, the middle step-sister played by Natasha Lyonne, is portrayed as the screw-up. Often getting high and making sports bets to eke out a living. Her name is also on the lease of the apartment, so she is set to get the place when Vincent dies. An element that adds to the familial rift. Finally, Christina is the youngest daughter played by Elizabeth Olsen, with her own small child across the country. The actors take to their roles rather authentically, and one wishes there could be another vehicle for the three of them to act with each other again.
Jacobs does direct well, but the film does feel like a play. Or perhaps an adaptation of an “important” New York play that actors do scenes from in classes. Something college theater groups perform between semesters, like Three Tall Women. This is not a critique, it is the type of story Jacobs is telling and he does tell it well. There are some interesting choices in editing, that help illuminate the things not said between the characters. The only real fault that the film has is when the characters spell it out, instead of letting the audience get there on their own. These scenes give the film a 10th grade English class feel, but thankfully it doesn’t happen too often.
His Three Daughters is not easy viewing, and is likely not something one would readily select when cruising through their options on Netflix. It is still worth the watch. If not for the story itself, but for the performances of the main three actors.
Grade: B-
~Andrew