Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) sits down on a bench outside her apartment somewhere in New York, smoking a fat blunt. She’s there because her sister Kate (Carrie Coon) kicks her out of her own apartment for ‘health reasons’. Sitting next to her is Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), her other sister, who comes out to get some air. Living far apart enough, all three came to Rachel’s apartment to be there for their father (Jay O. Sanders). Their father, Vincent, is on his last days, a man who has complex relationships with each of his daughters. And of course, that trickles down to each three, who have their own way of dealing with death. Same goes for Rachel’s boyfriend and Vincent’s friend Benji (Jovan Adepo) who, with good intentions, speaks up for Rachel. Another relative newcomer to the household is Angel (Rudy Galvan), a caretaker who checks up on the family.

Azazel Jacobs’ feature directorial effort was a TIFF selection last year which I avoided for reasons I can’t disclose, but there are times when all one has to say is a film is about a parent dying. As someone who lost a parent, that’s enough of me to press play on a film on any streamer. After all, a film like His Three Daughters shows universal things about the worst thing that can happen to someone. Those circumstances make viewers think of how we deal with such a death – I’m on Team Rachel. Also, a film where three actresses play people who yell at each other is catnip to gay people. They say mean things to each other, and then one of them says something that makes another take umbrage. A dramedy like this also puts these characters in a pressure cooker situation where they confront certain hard truths.

A family confronts the truth in His Three Daughters, and there’s anger when those few confrontations take place. But sometimes, truth is less painful, it’s just more difficult to summarise it in a few images or words. Katie tells Christina that she’s struggling with writing Vincent’s obituary, and Christina suggests that Rachel can help. A group effort, Christina is the one who has the most insightful thing to say, and Katie differs in opinion. The three sisters exchange a lot of words, loud and soft, within the apartment’s walls and mismatched chairs. The apartment, which most of them used to call home, is also where they find answers to their questions. This is the kind of film I’m afraid to recommend to my family for certain and personal reasons. But sometimes, viewers should just lean into the sorrow and find something about themselves the way these characters do.