How Did We Come To This? The Question THREE SISTERS Starts With?
Three Sisters is a movie that starts from a single question. We see a black and white scene of children running in their long johns. Why are they running through the streets at night? Even before our curiosities are answered, the shot of the children from the back turns into a shot of grownup women seen from the back. What could be the link between the two? Instead of answering this question, the camera is quick to chase after the daily lives of the three sisters.?
Heesook (KIM Sunyoung), the eldest who runs a flower shop, is about to die of cancer. Her relationship with her rebellious daughter (KIM Gahee) has long been damaged, and her husband (KIM Euiseong) only stops by to demand her for money. The third daughter Miok (JANG Yoonjoo) writes plays, but she turns violent when nothing goes her way. She lives with her husband (HYUN Bongsik), a fruit distributor, and his son from his previous marriage. It looks like the public gaze isn’t so kind on this family. The second daughter Miyeon (MOON Sori) who is active as a deacon of a church seems to have the most promising life among her sisters. She recently moved into a luxurious 52-pyeong (almost 2,000 sf) apartment in Gwanggyo with her professor husband (JO Hancheol) and their children. However, she’s also living an empty life. When her husband gets caught for having an affair, everything she built up in her life breaks apart.?
Although they’re sisters, they have little in common. From the beginning, the camera follows behind each of the women who are absorbed in their daily lives. It also seems like the three of them don’t meet up much. Even when two of them manage to meet, the air feels heavy. When Miyeon visits Heesook’s shop, Heesook reminds Miyeon that she has never visited the shop before, while Miyeon is unhappy when Miok drops by her church out of the blue dressed in flashy clothes. The only link these distant sisters have isn’t the present, but the past that continues to come back at them time and again. Miok says to Miyeon, “Was it when I was five? You and I ran out barefoot to the nearby supermarket,” as she wonders “why” they did what they did.?
To this, Miyeon ambiguously says she can’t remember. Her answer is short, and through it, we can see that she’s hasty to avoid the uncomfortable question. Behinds this uncomfortable question and answer is the domestic violence the three sisters experienced during their childhood. A flashback scene that remains in someone’s memory is shown. Through the black and white scenes, the film tries hard to bring back the painful past the three women tried so desperately to forget all of their lives.?
The sisters of Three Sisters are each hateful, bizarre, and strange in their own ways. Heesook has a habit of apologizing even when it’s not her fault, and she continues to call herself an idiot or garbage. Miok is an alcoholic, and Miyeon uses her faith as a function to gain control over her daily life. Perhaps their strange habits act as their defense mechanisms to keep themselves together from the memories of violence. No single adult gave them a helping hand during their childhood, including their mother who must’ve gotten used to the violence as well. Just as they had run in the black and white scene in their long johns to avoid their father’s repetitive abuse, the women still continue to run through the years to escape from the terrible memories.? | 
