The Sisters (2005)

30% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
34% of users liked it
(18,702 ratings)

Screenwriter Richard Alfieri and director Arthur Allan Siedelman adapt Anton Chekhov's classic stage play The Three Sisters to the screen in this film starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Maria Bello, and Erika Christensen as the titular siblings. Upon departing from Charleston, SC, to further their… More Screenwriter Richard Alfieri and director Arthur Allan Siedelman adapt Anton Chekhov's classic stage play The Three Sisters to the screen in this film starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Maria Bello, and Erika Christensen as the titular siblings. Upon departing from Charleston, SC, to further their education at a prestigious Manhattan college, sisters Marcia (Bello), Olga (Masterson), and Irene (Christensen) soon become lost in fantasies of what their lives may have been to the point where they are unable to affect change in their real lives. As the three sisters gradually open up to each other and their brother, Andrew (Alessandro Nivola), the specter of their deceased father soon lifts, leaving the nostalgic siblings to realize that the only way to confront the brutal realities of life is through honesty and understanding. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 53 min.
Directed By: Arthur Allan Seidelman
Written By: Richard Alfieri, Anton Chekhov
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 14, 2006 Limited
On DVD: Jun 13, 2006
Studio: Arclight Films

Critic Reviews

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Intelligent, observant entertainment designed for an adult audience.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
What we can guess, watching the film, is that the same players would make a good job of Three Sisters but are undermined by the faculty club, which works like a hotel lobby. There's no way to sustain dramatic momentum here.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Instead of anti-melodrama laced with surprising moments of comedy, which Chekhov managed, The Sisters settles for bloodless melodrama.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Anyone looking for the playwright's undeniable insight into the female psyche is unlikely to find any such specimen here.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
I liked the performances a lot.
John Anderson, Newsday
[Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters'] egacy of stifled dreams and inter-familial anxieties are as relevant as ever. Updating it, however, should involve more than adding incest, lesbianism and the uncontrolled venting of spleen.
Rory L. Aronsky, Film Threat
Many films have already tread through the gloomy garden paths that "The Sisters" takes. But it confirms that watching Maria Bello act in many guises is one of the great pleasures of the movies.
Scott Weinberg, DVD Clinic
Just goes to show you that you can be rich, smart, beautiful, and accomplished ... and still be as miserable as us middle-class drones.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Overwrought psychodrama revolving around the predictable warps and obsessions of three adult siblings.
Annlee Ellingson, Boxoffice Magazine
It's a tedious experience of otherwise promising material and covetous cast.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Bello is phenomenally good as the embittered Marcia, while Stuart and Christensen do their best with their less complex roles, but they're all undermined by Alfieri's shrill, mannered dialogue and cliched backstories.
Kim Morgan, Reel.com
We never tire of watching these actresses (particularly Bello, who's utterly convincingly playing one of those sexy, crazy, intelligent women men go bonkers for). And the movie, though flawed, remains absorbing and, in a ridiculous way, fun.
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
The movie looks horrible. On the few occasions that the action moves outside the chamber room, it's as if the filmmakers were venturing forth on the planet Mars.
Anne Gilbert, Filmcritic.com
an aggressively frustrating and ultimately nonsensical waste of time and talent.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jim H

Inspired by (I'm loathe to say "based on") Chekhov's play Three Sisters, a family struggles with drug addiction, sexual abuse, and infidelity. Oh, Maria Bello. I first saw you in A History of Violence, and since then I've… More
Inspired by (I'm loathe to say "based on") Chekhov's play Three Sisters, a family struggles with drug addiction, sexual abuse, and infidelity. Oh, Maria Bello. I first saw you in A History of Violence, and since then I've never forgotten you. You are one of this generation's finest actors, and every time I see you, you surprise me. So, why do you keep doing such shitty movies? I liked the fact that this film's dialogue is intelligently written; these characters sound like intellectuals arguing, using polysyllabic words like razors. But the story, which in the source material is beautifully understated, got twisted into an oppressive melodrama, and when each new element of modern salacious psychological damage is added, the film becomes a parade of Jerry Springer family neuroses and loses its heart as a character drama that is essentially about people trying to figure out how to love each other in spite of each other. I agree with Roger Ebert who stated that the same cast would have been perfect in the Chekhov play, but what director Arthur Allen Seidelman did to the Russian master's work should be as criminal as what happened to Nathanial Hawthorne's Scarlett Letter. Overall, Maria Bello is always worth watching, but if you've never seen Chekhov, then don't think this is what he's about - all the more reason to go to the real theater.
Stefanie C

this adaptation of chekov's play is a stylized, yet pretentious, psycological drama of another family putting the fun in dysfunction. strong performance by maria bello pulls the additional half star rating.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"The Sisters" starts with the surprise birthday party of 22 year old Irene Prior(Erika Christensen) given her by her two older sisters, Olga(Mary Stuart Masterson) and Marcia(Maria Bello). They along with their brother, Andrew(Alessandro Nivola), are… More
[font=Century Gothic]"The Sisters" starts with the surprise birthday party of 22 year old Irene Prior(Erika Christensen) given her by her two older sisters, Olga(Mary Stuart Masterson) and Marcia(Maria Bello). They along with their brother, Andrew(Alessandro Nivola), are the offspring of a legendary professor, and, now to one degree or another, are all still part of academia in New York, far away from the family home in Charleston. There is bitterness mixed in with the admiration they have for their father, born of cliched revelations. Indeed, the sisters possess an incredible intellectual snobbery and their pain infects those closest to them.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The Sisters" is full of scintillating dialogue and a very talented cast, especially Maria Bello who is excellent, but I am now fully convinced that Eric McCormack even sleeps sarcastically. The movie's main flaw is that it makes no effort at all to escape its theatrical roots. For example, the characters talk like they are performing in front of an audience; the movie has a simple three act structure and there is a fixed limit on the number of characters.[/font]
Janice :

Very enjoyable film that has this "theatre" feel to it, mostly because of the few scene changes and a lot of focus on the dialogues. Speaking of dialogues, they are brilliant! You can't deny its scholarly nature punctuated with witty remarks, clever phrases and tons of… More
Very enjoyable film that has this "theatre" feel to it, mostly because of the few scene changes and a lot of focus on the dialogues. Speaking of dialogues, they are brilliant! You can't deny its scholarly nature punctuated with witty remarks, clever phrases and tons of sarcasm (perhaps snide remarks too). Everything is just so nicely phrased and expressed that it hooks you, pulls you in and makes you a part of the scene too. Casting is great, and I was especially surprised and taken aback by Maria Bello's talent, whom I have despised for quite a while and for no apparent reason (I love her now because of this movie). This film kept me watching it in its entirety mostly because of all the different and varicolored characters that were captivating but also very interesting - not a single character resembles the next. If, like me, you haven't read Chekhov's original work, "Three Sisters", then you will most probably want to read it after watching this film. Not too melodramatic nor dull, this is an excellent drama!
Laurence C

An ultra-stagy melodrama that features a particularly corny ending and an incredibly fierce performance by Maria Bello (and good support by Mary Stuart Masterson).