Azazel Jacobs’ His Three Daughters is an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end, with sensational performances at the helm. It’s a raw, poignantly heartfelt exploration of grief that pushes its characters through difficult conversations that are so vulnerable it feels like we’ve found an accidental recording we shouldn’t be watching.
Starring Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne, the film follows three estranged sisters who reunite during their dying father’s final few days. Most of the film takes place inside a tiny New York apartment with minimal decor and a ton of animosity bubbling in the air. A few other characters tending to Vincent (Jay O. Sanders) come and go, but the majority of the film centers around the sisters. Sometimes, interestingly, when you’re watching a movie, it’s questionable whether the writer knows any sibling dynamics because conversations and scenarios feel scripted, yet His Three Daughters is so natural that it’s borderline uncomfortable at times.
Coon plays the eldest, Katie, a woman who’s dealing with a teenager back at home and people who said they’d do something but didn’t. Her relationship with Lyonne’s Rachel is significantly fractured as she feels she isn’t doing her part in their visit. Rachel isn’t Vincent’s biological daughter but she’s also the one who lives with them and the one who’s clearly broken by feeling like an outsider. And Olsen’s Christina presents the facade of a perfect new mother while she attempts to keep her sisters from clawing at each other’s throats.
The film’s stakes are so contained and so intimate that it makes every beat feel more intense. It’s a testament to all three performers and how brilliantly they embody their roles to the point where each of them feels familiar to the audience despite the short runtime. In a sense, it sometimes feels more like watching a limited series. Jacobs sprinkles so much detail into the characters that by the time the credits roll, it feels like we’ve spent ample time getting to know each of them. It certainly helps that the actresses bring some of their best performances to date, wearing sadness, grief, frustration, and bouts of solace tirelessly in their expressions.
There’s much to take in, and at times, it’s harrowing how unpredictable the emotions can be, but the end result is a gorgeous showcase of what it means to be a daughter who loves her father. It’s a stunning account of sisterhood in all its complexities. The women are each flawed, broken in some way, and hurting, but how they realize that they aren’t alone develops into a truly special ending.
We meet these women at a point where they couldn’t be more distant from one another, and we leave them as they’re a little less fractured. It’s heartbreaking and profoundly messy, but it’s an authentic display of crushing emotions brought to life by careful and nuanced performances. Each actress is so perfectly cast and tuned into their feelings that every scene holds a thousand words, even in the moments of silence. His Three Daughters is a powerful, must-watch film for those who can stomach heavier topics.
His Three Daughters is now streaming on Netflix.
First Featured Image | Official Poster Credit: ©Netflix