Sartaj Singh
From writer-director Azazel Jacobs, ‘His Three Daughters’ narrates the poignant story of three sisters rallying together in their father’s final moments despite complex family situations. When news of his worsening health reaches them, Katie and Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) travel to their father’s nondescript apartment. Rachel, their stoner half-sister, has been living with him over the years. As they agree to take turns watching over him for his remaining time with them, tensions build between them, aggravated by complex family dynamics and misunderstandings. A powerful aspect of the Netflix film’s drama is its setting, with the story primarily unfolding in a single New York City apartment in the Bronx where emotions rise, past turmoil is expressed, and closure is found.
Where Was His Three Daughters Filmed?
Filming for ‘His Three Daughters’ took place on location in New York City, New York. Principal photography was carried out under Sam Levy using 35mm film and a one-camera setup, leading to the desired texture with more intimate and lingering shots. Shooting in a real apartment posed a challenge to the crew, with limited space to maneuver their equipment around and work with. However, Levy noted that the limitation was ultimately a positive. “You really want to get the anthropology right when you’re choosing a location,” he said in an interview. “You don’t want it to feel comically big, like in these sitcoms where people live in these vast apartments even though they don’t have a lot of money.”
New York City, New York
The production team set up shop for the film’s East Village apartment in an actual 6th-floor apartment located in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York. The mundane location, while providing a grittily and authentic backdrop perfect for the claustrophobic scenes of stress, offered a range of challenges that arose from an uncontrolled environment. The team had to be mindful of natural light sources with the time of day influencing the scenes’ moods and imposing restrictions on which segments could be captured at what time.
Director Azazel Jacobs embraced the limitations of the location, recognizing the value in working with what was available rather than trying to alter or manipulate the space for convenience. Jacobs remarked, “I had this chance. I had a real location. I had a place. How could I play with it in a way where it was being given to me?” He highlighted that they couldn’t adjust walls or lighting as they might have in a set and were forced to work creatively within the real-life constraints of the apartment.
From their talks about the filming site, it seems that Jacobs had the residential area as a shooting location in mind first and later decided to use it for ‘His Three Daughters’ based on its characteristics. “This was a space that Az (Azazel Jacobs) had very clearly in his mind, informed by him growing up in New York City and having seen a lot of these buildings,” said the cinematographer in the aforementioned interview.
The decision to film on location rather than build a set allowed the story to stay true to its New York roots, which was important for Jacobs. Levy commented on how the apartment itself became a crucial part of the storytelling, providing the necessary realism for the film. The apartment wasn’t just a backdrop but a powerful entity influencing the characters’ journey, enhancing the pent-up emotions and intensifying the outbursts. It also necessitated meticulous planning and choreography between the actors and the camera, which, combined with rolling on 35mm film, created an evocative and deliberate visual flow, effectively heightening the emotional tone.
The shooting site was also very close to where Levy lived, only a 10-minute walk away. We see a part of the quintessential New York neighborhood with red brick buildings, a park, and a court when Rachel steps outside to light her joint. As a hub of culture and film, NYC provides filmmakers with unparalleled access to recognizable real-world environments, offering a perfect canvas for stories like ‘His Three Daughters’ where setting and character are inextricably linked. The city’s diversity of locations, from its iconic streetscapes to its towering apartment buildings, has long made it a sought-after filming destination, with films like ‘Wonder,’ ‘Three Men and a Baby,’ ‘Anora,’ and Showtime’s ‘Billions’ also featuring its neighborhoods in the background.
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