“The family drama wasa battleground on which some skirmishes were lost and some were won; it was a place where rages flared and hated blazed, but we cared and we kept track. The family was a community, and once you found your place in it, you were armored for citizenship beyond it in the great Family . . . ”
— Wyatt Cooper
Three sisters have gathered in their father’s small Manhattan apartment to attend his dying. A hospice nurse (Rudy Galvan) occasionally drops in to tell them that Vincent (Jay O. Sanders) will die soon, but there is little they can do but wait. He is mostly unconscious so all the communication in this family drama takes place between the sisters.
They are as different as they can be. Katie (Carrie Coon), the oldest, is very controlling; she lives nearby in Brooklyn and yet has rarely visited. Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), who has been raised by Vincent in the apartment, is not his biological daughter; she’s the daughter of his second wife. Still, she has been the one taking care of him. Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) has come from out-of-town and misses her own young child. She has a quiet vibe and is the designated peacemaker among the three.
Katie takes it upon herself to write their father’s obituary, which exposes more that they don’t know. She can’t help but criticize Rachel. She’s upset that she failed to get a DNR form signed while Vincent was lucid. She can’t believe the only things in the refrigerator are apples and only repents when she learns that is all Vincent would eat. Mostly she’s upset that Rachel spends all her time smoking dope and betting on sports. They all are aware that when their father dies, Rachel will inherit the lease on the rent-controlled apartment.
His Three Daughters was written and directed by Azazel Jacobs. Since almost all the action takes place in a couple rooms of the apartment, it has the feel of a play; the focus is on the dialogue. This is entirely appropriate as the film is really about a vigil for the dying.
The word “vigil” derives from a verb that means "watch" in both the sense of "observe" and "guard." A vigil is a time of intense wakefulness. It is being present so the dying one is not alone. If the person is conscious, it is a time to listen deeply and invite expressions of what they want or need. If the person is not able to speak, then those vigiling have to remind each other what the person wanted.
Vincent’s three daughters use their time together to air old grievances, to acknowledge what they know about their differences, and to establish boundaries on how they will be as sisters once their father is gone. But what would Vincent want? In a beautiful and unexpected ending, we find out.