The story in ‘His Three Daughters’ begins in a cramped apartment in New York. The three estranged sisters—Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), and Katie (Carrie Coon), are together. And their father, Vincent, is dying.
What transpires thereafter is the drama you expect among siblings, their divergent personalities and lifestyles, and their misunderstandings. ‘His Three Daughters’, directed by Azazel Jacobs, is a heartfelt exploration of family dynamics and complexities in sibling relationships.
Interestingly, the movie does—at no point—move beyond that cramped New York apartment or, otherwise, a bench outside the apartment where Rachel smoked her joints. And this she did, out of frustration, since Katie often complained the smell wouldn’t help her dying father. Despite the story never moving beyond those four walls, the screenplay and the performances are top-notch. Even Oscar-worthy!
The story is captivating in the sense of the ways in which dialogues are crafted and the ways in which characters are structured—as antagonistic and as complementary to one another. I think I should drop a sentence about these personalities.
Rachel, the one who lived with and took care of her father until they felt he was dying, sustains on her joints, bets on things I couldn’t fully understand till the end, reserved and detached. Katie, the oldest, lives close to Rachel and her father but has strong opinions and does not hold back on criticizing—mostly Rachel, for being all she is—and drinks whenever she gets anxious. In between these two, there is Christina, whose life, at the first outset, looks perfect—and this could be because she looks calm and, most times, spends her time fixing the relationship between the two warring sisters.
However, just as one spends more time with these characters in the movie, there are nuances to all three characters. And parts of those nuances emerge from their relationship with their father. As one of the dialogues goes: “He married a couple of crazy bitches and raised a few crazy bitches”. You don’t have a bad person by the end—there is no villain. All are just struggling, fixing, and living their lives in the ways they are.
Even as the father seems to be dying, there are new characters coming and going in between. Just as the day begins, a doctor/god-knows-what comes to their house—and tells them that today is the day their father will depart and that they have to be ready—and that today is literally every day.
And then, there is Rachel’s boyfriend, Benjy, who drinks and bets on sports, just like Rachel, but he cares about Rachel—and confronts the sisters for treating Rachel the way they do. In between, the caretaker comes every day and departs exactly when her time ends. These characters further add nuances to the ways in which the sisters fall apart and, later, come together.
And finally, just at the end, tears roll down your eyes. This tragedy-induced drama is both witty and heartfelt. ‘His three daughters’, therefore, is a must-watch!
‘His Three Daughters’ is currently streaming on Netflix.