Nothing brings people together like the death of a loved one. But then, nothing brings out the small slights, the latent resentments, and the long-standing emotional connections like the death of a loved one.
The new film “His Three Daughters” explores all of that in great detail. Written and directed by Azazel Jacobs, the film follows three sisters — not exactly estranged but definitely not close — who find themselves back together in a small New York City apartment while their father is in a hospice.
The film is a powerful spotlight on the performances of Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne, who manage to put unexpected twists on their seemingly well-established movie characters. Coon's intimidating Katie, Olsen's reticent Christina and Lyonne's disaffected Rachel all show new sides (to each other, but also to themselves) as the story draws to a close.
“It all goes back to that ‘Breakfast Club’ story, which is: How do you expect us to describe ourselves?” Jacobs says in a video interview from his New York apartment. “‘I’m the dominant person, I’m the volatile person, I’m the relaxed stoner.’ And I hope that by the end they’ve let loose and revealed something much more flawed and human than that.”
The film, which premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival, was acquired by Netflix for $7 million. After a limited theatrical release, including some 35mm screenings, the film begins streaming on the platform on Friday.
Natasha Lyonne, left, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon on the set of “His Three Daughters.”
(Sam Levy / Netflix)
Jacobs wrote her script with these three actors in mind, knowing she had a connection with each and could bring the script to them directly. Jacobs had directed Olsen in episodes of the series “Sorry for Your Loss.” She met Coon after directing her husband, actor and playwright Tracy Letts, in his previous films “The Lovers” and “French Exit.” She met Lyonne after going with actor Lucas Hedges to Lyonne’s 40th birthday party, a screening of the film “The King of Comedy.” The two later became friends on Instagram.
Although Coon had known Jacobs socially, she was still surprised to receive a script written with her in mind.
“I didn’t know what he thought of me as an actress, if he even thought of me that way,” says Coon, recently nominated for an Emmy for her role in “The Gilded Age.” “So I was very flattered when he revealed that he had written that part. And of course Tracy said, ‘Well, you’re doing it. ’ And that was before I read it, because he loves working with Aza. I knew I would have a blast.”
When he read the script, Coon liked what he found.
“I often play very verbal and intense women,” Coon says. “And in some ways, from all the reviews, that was something I liked, as they say. I’m the older sister and I’m bossy and controlling, and I think everyone should take my advice. So in that sense, I’m not that far from that.”
For Olsen, the role of the shy, retiring Christina felt more removed from her recent roles on the “Love & Death” series or as part of the expanded Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I don’t think of myself as a sweet, sensitive person, but I am, in a way, and Aza knows a lot about me personally and about my own day-to-day life and things that I don’t share with a lot of people,” Olsen says. “So finding something smaller within myself and quieter, very vulnerable, felt like a good opportunity, even though it wouldn’t necessarily have seemed like what I was dying to do next. I got a chance to go to a softer place than I’m normally drawn to.”
At a time when she’s busy as a producer, director, writer and showrunner on projects like “Russian Doll” and “Poker Face,” Lyonne still finds it satisfying to act in someone else’s project — to simply be, in her words, “like a Traveling Wilbury or something. I’m here as a session musician and the job is to service the idea as best I can. I love being a part of watching someone do their job.”
Carrie Coon, left, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne in “His Three Daughters.”
(Netflix)
Jacobs had a big hit with his third feature, 2008’s “Momma’s Man,” which featured his real parents, artist Flo Jacobs and avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs, in their Tribeca loft, and there’s something full-circle about seeing him return to a story so tied to family, aging and housing in New York.
To find the specific apartment Jacobs had in mind, he and his co-producer, costume designer Diaz Jacobs (also the director’s wife), handed out flyers on the street. He called people he hadn’t spoken to in years. He discovered the apartment they eventually used through someone he’d known since he was a teenager. It was a recently purchased Lower East Side apartment, which meant it wasn’t fully furnished. Most importantly, a dividing wall that is typically torn down by contemporary landlords was still standing.
“It was important to me not to write about an artist’s loft,” Jacobs says. “I wanted this family to exist outside of my own. I grew up going to a lot of these apartments. I knew it from parties where I slept or from visiting friends. And it was very important to me to use the actual structure as a limitation.”
Jacobs and cinematographer Sam Levy, whose credits include “Frances Ha,” make the most of the limited space. In the early stages of the film, the three sisters are seen only in single shots separate from one another. Gradually, two of them may appear together in a shot, but it is not until well into the film that all three performers are onscreen together.
“The experience of the film reflects the relationship between the sisters,” Coon says. “Form follows function in a beautiful way and in a way that is rarely done. It’s rare to see this level of craftsmanship in an industry that moves at breakneck speed to make money.”
The production used other apartments in the building as waiting areas between takes, with Coon and Olsen in one and Lyonne in another to accentuate the sense of isolation her character felt. But the three ended up spending time together anyway.
“It was so nice to be all over each other all the time, laughing and talking about our personal lives, and then to be called on set and Aza having a hard time controlling us because we’re so obsessed with whatever we’re doing together,” Olsen says. “I feel like in all the photos Aza took of us when we were off camera, I feel like our limbs are tangled up with each other. It created a different energy, like there’s nowhere to escape. You just have to deal with what’s real and what’s there.”
“We spent all our time walking up and down the stairs in the building,” Lyonne recalls.
Director Azazel Jacobs, left, Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen in New York in August.
(Evelyn Freja / For The Times)
All three actors have been pleasantly surprised by the audience response to the film. A small independent film that arrived at a festival a year ago without distribution has consistently impressed audiences at screenings and is now starting to generate buzz about its potential awards contention.
“I’m so grateful that people are connecting with this,” Lyonne says. “It’s absolutely true that I don’t think any of us expected this. It’s something that we all need to remember, that it’s always the unexpected surprises. How beautiful it is that these kinds of surprises hit us. It’s a reminder to keep an open mind when we’re greenlighting or reading or thinking that we’re making these big decisions and building these imaginary careers and ‘We have to win at life. ’ Well, spoiler alert: We die at the end.”
While “Momma's Man” was inspired by Jacobs seeing people his age start having babies and “The Lovers” grew out of a wave of divorces around him, “His Three Daughters” grew out of seeing people his age lose their parents, as well as his parents having their own health issues.
The film captures the specific agony of the end of life, simply waiting: the agonizing period when there is little to do and the smallest detail (a signature on a piece of paperwork, what to have for dinner) can take on enormous meaning simply because it is a task that can be accomplished.
“That experience of waiting is what really got me to write,” Jacobs says. “Time moves in the strangest way. Like suddenly every second counts. Emails don’t matter. Everything doesn’t matter except this. Then you realize there’s a shift, suddenly emails matter again and life outside of them does. That thing you didn’t want to happen, you suddenly resign yourself to it happening.”
“And it really felt like there were three acts,” Jacobs says. “That’s why it was so important for me to edit this film. I know there’s been a comparison made to plays, but the truth is we’re not seeing time move in the same way a play would. I could use time to have some things move fast, some things move slowly, time fall apart. It doesn’t move like real time. And that’s how I feel about dying.”
