Review: His Three Daughters

Directed by: Azazel Jacobs

Written by: Azazel Jacobs

Starring: Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Rudy Galvan, Jose Febus, Jasmine Bracey

Rating: [4/5]

Grief often follows a triggering event but when its inevitability sits at the precipice the grieving can begin and the letting out of the emotions can flow beforehand. This often occurs when a loved one’s hanging on by a thread and the caregivers just wait for what they know will happen. His Three Daughters explores how this impacts a trio of sisters as they await their father’s passing and picked over scabs of unhealed wounds begin to fester. 

With their father in hospice care at home, Katie (Carrie Coon), Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), and Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) take turns tending to him as his death approaches. While having to stay in the same small apartment they grew up in for the first time since childhood, tensions that existed in the past resurface as they butt heads on who is doing their part for their father. 

Mostly set in a single location and very much feeling like a play at times, His Three Daughters has a simple premise with very complex feelings running through it. Bringing together three sisters who obviously have not spent much time together since they have moved out must cram together in this apartment as they wait for the father to eventually die. Each of them having vastly different personalities and evidently deep-seated resentment in some cases. These interactions between them get uncomfortable and at times rashness can win out, all making for such an engaging and tight story. 

When observing the dynamic of these three sisters, perhaps viewers can see themselves and identity with them. Katie, as the oldest, has this general anger towards others as someone who has troubles back at home and wants to assert this control over her sisters. Christina is the pothead sister whose life has not amounted to what her other sisters have accomplished, which Katie makes her very aware of. Then we have Rachel, who is the youngest and simply wants to keep the peace and whose childhood did not intersect much with her older sisters. These dynamics left many things unsaid for many years allowing this incredibly stressful time between them as the opportunity to address some things, and it surely creates for such an uncomfortable circumstance. 

Ultimately, what makes this film impactful to sit through comes from the reality of these dynamics and how the inevitable death of a loved one can bring out the worst in people. We see this primarily with Katie, who Carrie Coon does an excellent job in portraying as this incredibly harsh oldest sister. The way, in particular, she speaks down to Rachel and makes some fairly damning accusatory statements around her actions says plenty about the finger-pointer. It makes Rachel’s reaction as someone simply just trying to grieve her father and as the one who has cared for him for several years while the other two moved away and had their own lives so disheartening. However, despite the difficulty of these conversations, they remain important to hash out in this difficult moment because in all reality, what other circumstance would bring these sisters together like this? In a sense this ending of one phase of their lives with their father passing also brings the opportunity for them to create something new to their dynamic and a future where they can state that they love each other as sisters in all sincerity.  

Tasked with a confined space to tell this story, Azazel Jacobs does a great job as the writer and director of this feature. Not only does he lay out some beautifully important conversations through these characters but he also ensures to truly hammer home the size of the apartment. He displays how these sisters truly cannot avoid each other and therefore cannot skirt around the conversations they need to have. The constant humming of the machines keeping their father stable in one of the bedrooms, who we do not see but hear further displays the limited space for these three and how they need to interact with each other for better or worse. It makes the escapes Rachel has when she goes outside to smoke some cannabis, to the chagrin of the apartment security guard. A reprieve knowing she cannot avoid her sisters when she goes back in. 

Riveting, all too relatable, and wholly impactful, His Three Daughters brings together three strong actors and relies on them to give captivating performances, and they do not fail us. Having Coon, Lyonne, and Olsen play sisters played very well to the natural talents of these actors, and they excelled in the role. They made for such a great cast and their collaboration enhances the screenplay and direction by Azazel Jacobs. Not the most comfortable watch due to the tension in the air, but necessary in so many ways that drives home my appreciation for it.