‘His Three Daughters’ Ending Explained: Netflix's emotional movie concludes with one regret
Contains spoilers for 'His Three Daughters'
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: 'His Three Daughters', starring Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen, takes viewers on an emotional journey of grief and complex familial bonds. The film revolves around three estranged sisters - Katie, Rachel, and Christina, who reunite at their father's home, as he is dying of cancer and enters hospice care.
The opening scene establishes that the sisters don't share a good bond. They each carry resentment, unspoken grievances, and emotions in their hearts, showing little interest in confronting them. However, as they have to put up with each other for the sake of their father, they are forced to sit down and address the conflicts between them. After they pour out their heart during a conversation and apologize to each other, things seem to get better between them.
Does the conversation between Vincent and his daughters really happen?
As the sisters finally resolve their differences, they go into Vincent's room together. Their father, who is on his deathbed, asks his daughters to move him to his favorite chair in the living room. Katie, Rachel, and Christina adhere to his request and bring him out of his room.
Vincent (Jay O Sanders), who is agitated by the perpetual beep sound, rips off his medical equipment. He then stands up and goes into the kitchen to grab a beer. The siblings are shocked but delighted to see their father back on his feet again. Vincent then delivers a monologue, opening up about his love for each of them. He also acknowledges the mistakes he made as a parent, mentioning how he didn't pay enough attention to Christina.
As he continues to talk about his love for the city, the nature of life and death, love and regrets, he looks at his chair and realizes that he was dead shortly after he was brought to his chair. And so, the conversation we see between Vincent and his daughters doesn't actually happen, and it's a regret Vincent might be carrying, unable to tell his daughters what they needed to hear.
What does Rachel's smoking scene in the climax of 'His Three Daughters' mean?
As Vincent dies, there's an irreplaceable void in the house. The three sisters take turns and sit on his chair to feel his presence one last time. Christina and Katie then bid goodbye to Rachel.
In the final moments, we see that Rachel tries to smoke inside the house but suddenly stops. She then goes outside and sits on the bench to smoke. It indicates that the relationship between the sisters is repaired for real. Earlier in the movie, Katie yelled at her and asked that she must smoke outside if she had any respect for her. Even though Katie has gone back to her home, Rachel's act of smoking outside showcases that she truly respects Katie. The film ends with a powerful reminder that it’s our connections with others that define us.
'His Three Daughters' is now streaming on Netflix
