Here’s another film I’m mad is being spat out by the Netflix content firehose: His Three Daughters. Starring Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne, it’s about three sisters caring for their father at the end of his life. It looks intense yet touching and is basically a three-hander between these terrific actresses, each getting a showcase for their talents.
The film comes from writer/director Azazel Jacobs. I liked his film The Lovers quite a bit, but did not care for his last feature, French Exit. That said, French Exit was an adaptation, and His Three Daughters is an original screenplay by Jacobs, so perhaps it will be more in line with The Lovers, which is also an original screenplay written by Jacobs. Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne were both trending at points yesterday after the trailer dropped, testament to how good their performances look—though please don’t confuse Olsen yelling a lot with a good performance, the shots of her looking high strung are much more convincing on that front than just yelling. I am, however, offended on Carrie Coon’s behalf. In this house we love and respect Carrie Coon!
His Three Daughters premiered last year at TIFF, and like Lee, it’s being released in September. It’ll get a wishy-washy theatrical release on September 6 before hitting Netflix on September 20. While the film certainly looks like it could engender some awards heat, that September release date is, once again, pretty unfriendly. By the end of the month, or very shortly thereafter, Netflix will have completed their festival buying spree, and then we’ll see where they put their trophy money for the year. They’re not very good at balancing multiple contenders, they tend to focus on one title and push it as hard as they can. Releasing His Three Daughters basically tells me they don’t intend to push this film very much, if at all. Still, this is three tremendous actresses getting to go to town on a family drama, I won’t count any of them out for at least three more months.
