14

Nov

Watched : His Three Daughters (2023/4 film) – the rather terrifying, touching yet distracting work of art on family bonds

image

Echoing a certain feel from the Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss (2018-2019), which by the way also sees both Jovan Adepo and Elizabeth Olsen playing their respective roles to a degree of excellence, I decided to sit through the entire movie, even if it was dialogue-heavy on a subject that many of us would prefer to not talk about – death. Yet, ironically, it is in death that a family often reunites – as you can probably expect from this film.

Perhaps the director had a certain objective with the way the camerawork was done, but this, in turn, somehow drew me out of the film for quite a bit – as a viewer, it can feel like you’re watching a documentary instead, especially in the introduction bit of the film where one is talking about a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) form.

Perhaps another rather distracting moment is when there’s a certain scene that is supposed to be significant and taken seriously, but is swiftly cut to the next where you can see the character having a conversation over the phone.

Not much is known about the three sisters and how they’re related to the dying father, especially in the beginning, so this can be very confusing to digest – if you like straightforward narratives. But later on, in a similar vein to Sorry For Your Loss, you will discover that only two of the three girls are biologically related. Even then, the third lass would stand her ground by asserting that she has known only one father, and that she has always been the carer while the two other girls would have gone on with their own lives – with their own children, now that they’ve all grown up.

Perhaps the spotlight should be on one of the three sisters has her own journey where she has a sports-betting lifestyle and frequently turns to weed – hence the repeated scenes of an officer somewhat issuing a friendly reminder-warning of some sort. Yet, she is the one who remains home as the carer, as she is the only one who has not left home to live in another part of the country.

Interestingly, the father figure is dominant yet absent – until his appearance towards the end of the film. And with one of the three girls struggling to write an obituary for her dying father, I think that underscores the family relations very well.

The coping methods when dealing with death are also quite well-fleshed out – especially the yoga moves, stretches and breathwork and meditation. The other girl in the family is more of someone who likes to do cooking and cleaning, so this would end up being her ways of coping with the impending death of her father.

Where it differs from Sorry For Your Loss is that there is a sense of humour brought into this film, even if you have to find it through the several monologues delivered throughout.

Elizabeth Olsen not only shines as a star in this film, but is also one of its executive producers. Jovan Adepo is of British-Nigerian and African-American parentage.

The film was launched at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2023, before being shown in the US a year later at selected cinema locations. On 20 September 2024, the film was made available to Netflix subscribers.

 

 

 

 

About Author

Yong Jo Leen

Jo Leen now spends her days crafting compelling content for Inkscribehub. She was previously attached to a business intelligence firm.

Showing 0 comments

Write a Comment