This is Where I Leave You is a new film which is part of the Seattle International Film Festival and it is currently playing at SIFF. It follows a newly reunited upper class, privileged family who is brought together after the death of their father. Their proximity forces to the surface many frustrations and broken pieces that lie just beneath the surface. Each character is "stuck" in their life for various reasons.

This movie parallels a lot of the structural, thematic, and moral questions presented in the Three Sisters. It also falls in line with Chekovian style using undercutting, repeated phrases, symbolic motifs, nonsequetorious thought and action, and complex dialogue structure (often with large groups and multiple conversations) to convey the subtlety of human interaction. It is Hollywood-ed up with an extra emphasis on love and sex, but if Chekhov were an east coast American reincarnated, he would have written this film.

 

Watching this film might very well inform and give context to the themes of our production of the Three Sisters and how they fit into modern day society. I would recommend it for anyone on the team who wishes to deepen their understanding, and especially for the actors so that they can see how the cast of this film handled group scenes and Chekhovian dialogue.