This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.Late into His Three Daughters, the tremendous new film from French Exit and The Lovers writer-director Azazel Jacobs, one of the title’s three daughters, Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), shares one of her memories with her soon-to-be passed father Vincent (Jay O. Sanders). She remembers a moment when the two were watching a movie where a character died, and Vincent—who had just lost his wife and Christina’s mother—was upset about the unrealistic way death was handled. To Vincent’s point, death and loss are topics that we all will deal with, and yet it’s extremely difficult for a film to effectively express what these situations are like. His Three Daughters isn’t one of these films. In fact, Jacobs’ latest feels like a now-essential film about grief, loss, and the absences our loved ones leave behind.

‘His Three Daughters’ Is an Essential Film About Grief
Image via TIFF

The three daughters are Katie (Carrie Coon), the oldest of the siblings, an overly-verbose mother of three that lives in Brooklyn and is desperate to get her father’s DNR signed before it’s too late; Christina, the quieter, yoga-practicing sister who lives on the other side of the country, and loves the Grateful Dead; and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), who has been taking care of their father in her NYC apartment before her sisters-from-another-mother arrived and took hold of the situation, while she spends her days smoking pot in her room and betting on sports. As these three clash and confront each other, their father Vincent lies in an unseen room, where we hear machines keeping him alive, while his presence looms over all three of the sisters.

Jacobs sets up who these three are in the very opening scene, as Katie doesn’t know when to quit talking, going on and on before anyone else has the opportunity to speak, while Christina looks on the bright side of things, whereas Rachel seems to be there to allow her sisters to do whatever they need to do. Jacobs shows us three different types of grieving through these characters, each dealing with the inevitable in their own way. Through Jacobs’ script and these performances, we can feel decades of history between this trio, the past conflicts that underline every conversation they have, and the frustrations that are always on the verge of bubbling up.

Watching this trifecta of excellent actresses playing off each other is all His Three Daughters really needs, and considering that the majority of the film takes place in Rachel’s apartment (with the occasional trip outside for Rachel to smoke weed, or to go buy more weed), these dynamics are always the focal point of the story—as it should be. Coon seems to represent the bargaining side of grief, always trying to do what’s best for her father, which usually leads to bossing people around or pushing a bit too hard. Coon almost plays this role as if Katie ever stops talking or thinking about what she needs to do, she could potentially break down. Meanwhile, Olsen’s Christina has always been self-sufficient to the point that she is fine doing her own thing—even though we learn that her love of the Grateful Dead probably came from not having much of a support system growing up.

Coon and Olsen Are Great, But Lyonne Steals the Show

But the real powerhouse of His Three Daughters is Lyonne, whose Rachel has seemingly decided to sit back and let her sisters take the reins for a bit, so they can feel like they did something for their father in his last few days. We can feel the pain within her, as she’s losing someone she knew better than any of her sisters did—not just a father, but a friend. For Lyonne, it’s a quieter, more contemplative role, but she plays it beautifully. For most of His Three Daughters, we can tell that Rachel is likely the closest of the three sisters to their father, and she lights up when talking about her dad, as if she’s keeping his light alive by simply mentioning him. In these final days, she struggles to go see her father, as if seeing him in this state could be what breaks her heart entirely. If there’s any justice in this world, Lyonne will be a serious contender for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars.

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Yet what makes His Three Daughters so special is how it approaches death, the various ways we grieve, as well as deal with the inevitable. There is no one way to handle the passing of a loved one, and yet in the end, we’re all brought together by the same experience that is saying goodbye to someone that has left an irrevocable imprint on our lives. Watching these three sisters in this period of their lives explores this expertly, but one scene near the end, in which we finally get Sanders’ Vincent, is an extremely powerful one and a staggering look at what it’s like to look back on your life and the attempt to summarize what you’ve learned. Sanders in this scene encapsulates so much of life into one brief moment—the regrets, the loves, and the joys of life, and how these all intertwine—and feels like Jacobs giving us the moment we all wish we had with the ones we’ve loved and lost.

His Three Daughters is especially a wonderful surprise coming from Jacobs, whose previous films like 2011’s Terri and 2020’s French Exit have made the viewer have to dig deep down and work hard to find the heart that still was essential to these stories. But from the very opening of His Three Daughters, as we see Katie, Christina, and Rachel reckoning with the upcoming death of their father, the emotion and pain is palpable. The love for the patriarch hangs over everything. Even when the dynamics between these sisters are prickly, we know that these big emotions are coming from a place of love for their shared father.

As Jacobs’ screenplay mentions, death is nearly impossible to approach in film effectively, yet His Three Daughters comes about as close as possible to the shattering way death alters a family and individuals. It’s the absence of that person going forward, a life snuffed out from your future, that is hard to even comprehend, and Jacobs—alongside three of the best performances of this year—is able to bring that emotion to life. His Three Daughters takes a feeling that is so hard to adapt and makes it seem relatively easy. It is a work of big emotions and heart in the middle of the worst time of a person’s life that is also one of the best films of the year.

Rating: A-

The Big Picture

His Three Daughters is a powerful and essential film about grief, loss, and the void left behind by our loved ones. The film explores the different ways people grieve through the three sisters, each dealing with their father’s impending death in their own way. Natasha Lyonne steals the show with her quiet and contemplative portrayal, showcasing the pain of losing someone who was not only a father but also a friend.

His Three Daughters had its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.