Dying Father Reunites Two Estranged Daughters : NPR

Over the years, I’ve seen more than my share of movies about dysfunctional families and terminal illness, and even the good ones have a hard time avoiding clichés. So that’s saying something. His three daughterswhich is about a dysfunctional family dealing with a terminal illness, doesn’t feel like a repeat.

Writer-director Azazel Jacobs has a knack for putting a fresh, smart spin on familiar subjects, like the comedy about high school dropouts. Terri to the playful marital drama The lovers. His last, His three daughtersis a brilliantly written and beautifully modulated chamber piece set over a few days in a Lower Manhattan apartment where three women have gathered to say goodbye to their father, Vincent, who is in hospice care.

Carrie Coon plays Katie, the eldest of the three sisters. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and teenage daughter, but she hasn’t been visiting her father much lately. Elizabeth Olsen plays the youngest, Christina, who flew in from her home thousands of miles away.

And then there’s Rachel, that’s Natasha Lyonne. She lives with Vincent in this apartment and has been taking care of him for some time. Rachel is estranged from her two sisters, for reasons that are not initially clear. Jacobs immerses us in the heart of the tension, then gradually gives us a bigger picture.

Some friction comes from the fact that Katie and Christina are somewhat of an outsider in Rachel’s territory. Rachel can claim some moral superiority, since she’s taking care of their father while they’re busy living their lives and raising their own families.

The fact that Rachel has no biological connection to her sisters or their father reinforces this two-on-one dynamic. After Vincent’s first wife died, he married Rachel’s mother and raised Rachel as his own. As Rachel unnecessarily makes clear to her sisters, she is no less his daughter than they are.

There are also money and class issues: Katie despises Rachel, claiming that all she does is smoke weed all day and make money betting on sports. And then there’s the real estate issue. During a contentious conversation, Katie insinuates that Rachel is taking care of Vincent partly because of her enviable living situation.

In this scene, as in every other, the acting and writing are so specific that you feel like you know these characters intimately. Few actors can make anger more fascinating than Coon, and her Katie is irritable and judgmental, even—or especially—when she’s trying to sound reasonable.

It’s hard not to side with Rachel, played by Lyonne, who indulges in expletives as she defends herself against Katie’s innuendos. That leaves Christina in the difficult role of peacemaker. She’s sincere and open by nature, which comes through when she describes her past as a Deadhead. In Olsen’s quiet, moving performance, we see a woman who often represses her feelings to spare those of others.

What distinguishes His three daughters What sets so many films of this genre apart is that, while it’s certainly talky, it never feels like the characters are trying to explain themselves. Rather than giving you long chunks of their backstory, their interactions feel like an honest, flowing conversation.

Much of the dialogue is devoted to the practical, perfectly understandable details of end-of-life: the difficulties of writing an obituary, getting a DNR order issued, or even dealing with well-meaning but slightly exasperating medical staff. I haven’t seen many films that so fully understand the role that food plays in a situation like this, where cooking meals for your family or making sure there’s always fresh coffee can be both a pain and a welcome distraction.

Vincent himself is off-camera for most of the film, sleeping peacefully in his room, though Jacobs wisely gives him – and Jay O. Sanders, the actor who plays him – a nice moment in the film’s final act.

The question that hangs over His three daughters The question is whether the sisters will overcome their estrangement and remain a family after Vincent is gone. Jacobs doesn’t impose a resolution, though he ends on a note of hard-won understanding that I found both optimistic and deeply touching. He has made a film that, in the shadow of death, says something essential about how we live.