'His Three Daughters' REVIEW: If they weren’t sisters, they wouldn’t be friends
‘His Three Daughters’ REVIEW: If they weren’t sisters, they wouldn’t be friends
Azazel Jacobs uses separation as the central theme of his 2023 family drama His Three Daughters and intertwines it with the phenomenon of how the death of a loved one brings families together. He introduces us to a trio of sisters in their late 30s to early 40s, namely the eldest sister Katie (Carry Coon), the youngest sister Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), and the troubled sister from another mother Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), who have come together for the impending death of their bedridden father Vincent (Jay O. Vincent).
I want to start by recognizing the complexity of their sisterhood and how it sets the tone for the entire film. Katie takes on the responsibilities expected from the eldest sibling. She worries about the paperwork that has to be done, specifically the do-not-suscitate (DNR) order and inheritance, and ensures that her sisters are well-aware of how much is on her plate. In the same breath, this makes her feel the need to show a strong demeanor to them but overdoes it to the extent that she doesn’t know how to apologize when she’s clearly in the wrong.
Meanwhile, Rachel is the sister whom Katie knows nothing about as she was raised with the “second family” of Vince — but Katie is incredibly vocal about her opinions on Rachel’s coping methods nonetheless. Alcohol and cigarettes allow Rachel to feel a sense of normalcy, but her eldest sister perceives them as forms of negligence.
Then, there is the seemingly perfect sister Christina who often finds herself in the middle of their conflict, having no choice but to keep herself together and be the moderator for them. She also tries her best to be a good mother to her kids, but deep inside, she’s undeniably suffering, so she maintains her sanity through meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises — which her sisters don’t seem to understand.
As you may have noticed, these characters are so different from each other to the point that the only commonality between them is Vincent. The way this was depicted was quite hooking with the decision to confine him in his bedroom and remain hidden from the audience — a metaphor for how even the only thing they have in common is something they each remember so differently, having been raised by different versions of their father.
Beyond their differences and their complicated dynamic, what really establishes the separation in this film is the cinematography — barely showing us more than one sister in a single frame, emphasizing their isolation from each other despite being in one apartment. This is accompanied by the hospital-like sound design of a beeping heart monitor in their apartment which gets more draining to listen to as the film goes on.
Perhaps the weakest point of the story is its ending. I won’t say too much to avoid spoilers but what makes the ending not as impactful as it tries to be is how it doesn’t tell us much about their father despite its best efforts to. In the end, it makes this whole film a gradually progressing situation instead of a concrete story.
His Three Daughters is now streaming on Netflix.
