In the past couple decades, filmmakers have come up with a digestible script format to deal with death, one that attracts some mainstream audiences. Rather than analyze death, these films focus on family relations. How do loved ones or those siblings and other kin who aren’t even keen on each other, deal with each other when a family member is dying or has died.
A British film from 2002 called Before You Go focuses on family relations on the eve of the mother’s funeral. Julie Walters, Patricia Hodge, John Hannah, and Tom Wilkinson star. It’s writer, Shelagh Stephenson, has written for Downton Abbey and Murder in Provence. Granted, in this movie, mother does appear as a ghost at times—at times a dancing spirit, which makes the topic more palatable.
Ten years ago, This is Where I Leave You was released. Jane Fonda, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, and Adam Driver are featured in this comedy/drama of siblings who gather for one week in the home where they grew up right after the death of the father.
Neither Before You Go nor This is Where I Leave You have bowled over viewers, despite their terrific casts, although I enjoyed both films.
Now Netflix has included in its playlist a new feature film called His Three Daughters. Again, the plot involves siblings, sisters who are thrown together as their father lingers with advanced cancer and hospice workers say his final moments are coming very soon. Written, produced, and directed by Azazel Jacobs, this film zeroes in on three women who have quite different values and interests. Katie is a control freak, bossy, and she drinks too much. She’s worried about the lack of a Do Not Resuscitate document and she is busily writing her father’s obituary. Christina does Yoga and meditates obsessively and is homesick for her toddler. Rachel is a pothead. Each nervously awaits the father’s demise.
Critics have praised Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne who put in strong performances. Audiences have been giving the film pretty high ratings. The script is realistic and very powerful. The production values are typical of any low-budget feature. We see a living room with a dining table. We see a park bench outside the apartment building.
Netflix picked up the world rights to His three Daughters when it played the Toronto International Film Festival last year and planned a 2024 release. Viewers should be able to relate to this movie’s particular dysfunctional family. The three sisters are not enemies. This isn’t a study in hatred. They are sisters who are trying to get along, and each loves their dying father dearly. It is difficult to imagine where their relationships will land after their father passes and each moves back to her individual lifestyle, and that adds to the strength of the screenplay. His Three Daughters has authenticity. Many viewers will see something of their own truth, or a friend’s or acquaintance’s truth, in this motion picture.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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