His Three Daughters could be a play, we feel so close to the characters and what they are going through.
That the action takes place almost exclusively inside a Bronx apartment certainly contributes to this. But it is above all because of the very accurate portrait of the three women who are there and the authenticity of their emotions that we have the impression of sharing their space and their state of mind.
Vincent (Jay O. Sanders) is dying. He will take his last breath at home. In palliative care, the man is more or less aware of the presence of his three daughters, with him to accompany him to his final rest and settle a few details.
Katie (Carrie Coon), Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) don’t see each other regularly. Rachel, the daughter of Vincent’s second wife, has lived with him since childhood. She has taken care of the man she considers her real father by herself. Katie is not far away, in Brooklyn, but rarely visits them, while Christina lives on the other side of the country.
The three sisters are very different. Katie, mother of a rebellious teenager, is rigid, responsible and rational. Of a serene and optimistic nature, Christina misses her little girl and her husband. Withdrawn, Rachel chains joints and sports bets. Without being stereotypes, these women correspond to some clichés. One of the great strengths of the film written and directed by Azazel Jacobs (French Exit, The Lovers) is that it bursts them by gradually revealing the depth of the protagonists.
Their different temperaments, the cramped space, and a DNR order that obsesses Katie over their father cause much tension. On edge, they bicker as much about the time spent at his bedside as the meals they share without much joy.
They will re-tame each other over the days, especially because they will finally listen to each other. The magnificent dialogues make you think, cry and smile. Each actress gets her moment to shine, but Natasha Lyonne (the series Russian Doll And Orange Is the New Black) is particularly touching in the role of the left behind. Embodying the boyfriend of her character, Jovan Adepo (3 Body Problem) recites a fantastic monologue addressed to the two biological sisters. The facade of their characters shaken, Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age, The Nest) and Elizabeth Olsen (Love & Death, WandaVision) will brilliantly reveal their nuances.
Despite the subject, His Three Daughters is not maudlin and even less moralistic. Its sober approach, its disarming sincerity and the excellence of its distribution allow the universal scope of the subject to be accomplished.
In theaters, then on Netflix on September 20
Drama
His Three Daughters
(VF: His three daughters)
Azazel Jacobs
With Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen
1 h 41