Before we talk about the film, it is important we talk about the filmmaker. Lynn Shelton was a dynamic, humanist, compassionate storyteller. She was always looking for the most human parts of people and giving them the love they deserve. Your Sister’s Sister was my introduction to her work.
I remember feeling so moved by the performances. Seeing someone like Emily Blunt outside of her usual role. Rosemarie DeWitt came in as this sometimes snarky, always grounding presence. And Mark Duplass showed that men get to have complex emotions too.
Watching a Lynn Shelton film made it feel like anything was possible. Small moments can lead to the greatest rewards. Ordinary life could be extraordinary if you loved it enough. She made it feel that if you had enough gumption, you too could make a film.
Shelton was an incredible filmmaker. She wore her heart on her sleeve. You can tell by just how much she loved the characters and the actors portraying them. She understood conflict and pain and shame, and how each of those were so universal. She understood compassion and empathy.
Since her untimely passing in May 2020, there has been a hole where all she brought into the realm of filmmaking and all she still had to bring exists. She was pure filmmaking magic. Here is one of my favorite Lynn Shelton films.
THE PREMISE
The film begins a year after Jack’s (Duplass) brother died. He struggles with his brother’s death. His friend (and brother’s ex-girlfriend) Iris (Blunt) offers her father’s cabin for Jack to use to get away for some time. He takes her up on the offer and makes the trek out to the isolated cabin.
Once there, he meets Hannah (DeWitt) – Iris’ lesbian half-sister who came to the cabin following a break-up. Hannah agrees to let Jack stay. After excessive drinking, and in their various states of grief, Jack and Hannah sleep together.
The plot thickens when Iris decides to join Jack and learns her sister is at the cabin as well. Jack pleads with Hannah to not mention anything, and she amusedly agrees. Her amusement turns to distress when Iris tells Hannah that she has fallen for Jack. Hannah agrees the next day that they will keep their one night a secret. However, spending time in a remote cabin proves to make keeping secrets harder than usual.
THE SCRIPT
The script for Your Sister’s Sister was an outline with plot points and scene goals, but all of the dialogue is improvised. Shelton primarily wrote and directed films which were outlines. Shelton, who previously went to school for acting, would work with the actors to understand their interpretation of the piece. She would also have discussions with one actor who would then act based on her direction and the other actors would just be in the moment reacting.
After Shelton’s death, Blunt remembered working with her. Blunt reminisced about a dinner scene in Your Sister’s Sister. In the scene, Shelton told DeWitt to tell a very embarrassing story that would be about Blunt’s character when they were children. Blunt knew the structure of the scene and had her direction.
But when DeWitt told this story, it caught Blunt off guard and the embarrassment her character felt was very real to Blunt. The lack of scripted dialogue leaves the film feeling authentic and honest. It forces the actors to be creative and truly think like their characters.
THE ACTING
With Blunt, DeWitt, and Duplass, it is hard to go wrong. Duplass previously worked with Shelton on Humpday. DeWitt was coming off of her three year run on United States of Tara. Blunt was the biggest name attached to the film at that time.
These were three actors with three very different career paths merging in this film. As stated before, Shelton studied acting in college. She knew what she wanted from performances. The three main actors in this film together are magic.
DeWitt gave her character so much heart while also hinting at moments of hurt. Hannah is introduced right after a break-up. On top of that, we learn that Hannah’s parents divorced when she was younger, and her father’s remarriage produced Iris. DeWitt gives Hannah a feeling of someone so strong in her convictions, yet determined that there’s a brokenness beyond repair. It is an odd balance to inhabit, but DeWitt does a beautiful job existing in both spaces.
Duplass plays our main character, the one who is the catalyst of the film. Duplass regularly gives performances where men are allowed to have emotions. In this one, the emotions are hefty. Jack is still grieving the loss of his brother. He is lost and confused and struggling with his feelings for Iris. Duplass does not craft a stagnant character, but one fighting for something without truly knowing precisely what he is fighting for until much later in the film.
Blunt is endearing and enchanting as Iris. She is charming, quirky, compassionate. She brings someone to life who has a lot of mixed emotions herself. Iris has fallen for the brother of her deceased ex-boyfriend. And rather than putting her love into a romantic relationship with him, she tries to put it into a friendship. Her performance is full of kindness and yearning.
YOUR SISTER’S SISTER
Lynn Shelton gave us this heartfelt film about grief and love and acceptance. It oozes with humanity and authenticity. Your Sister’s Sister is a film all about kinship and friendship, the way we love people in all of love’s complexities. With tour-de-force performances and Shelton’s keen eye for compassion, this film is a triumphant independent film. It embodies so much of Shelton’s filmmaking style and vision of the world.
Your Sister’s Sister is available to stream on Amazon.
