Three Birthdays
by Adam Barney
The sexual revolution of the early 70s pushed the American culture forward, but not without some bumps and awkwardness on the way. Three Birthdays focuses on those bumps and shows how the revolution could wreck a family.
Co-writer and director Jane Weinstock breaks her film down into three segments, focusing on each member of a family’s birthday in 1970. This family of three lives in Ohio and both parents, professors at a local university, pride themselves on how progressive they are, despite the obvious contradictions that begin to bubble up.
Their daughter Bobbie (Nuala Cleary, The Crowded Room) wants to lose her virginity just to get it over with but ends up discovering her parents’ secret – they have an open relationship. Kate (Annie Parisse, House of Cards) has made a deal with her husband that they could have an open relationship as long as they are honest with each about it (they are not). She wants to explore sex outside of their marriage but is conscious that her husband is struggling with his career and generally feeling inferior. Rob (Josh Radnor, How I Met Your Mother) has been cheating on Kate since well before they decided to experiment and also wants to drive a wedge in the relationship between Kate and Bobby so that he can be the better parent.
All of this makes for a pretty unpleasant watch with some deeply unlikeable characters. Everyone is lying and embracing any opportunity to inflict emotional harm upon the other. Bobbie hates her mom for cheating on her dad, Kate seems to be enjoying watching her career rise while Rob’s stagnates and he suffers, and Rob is just a terrible person.
Radnor really leans into the darker parts of Rob to make him such a despicable character. It seems that the lesson to be learned through all of this is that people suck.
If you have been paying attention to the dates presented on screen for each birthday, you are going to have a good idea about where the finale is headed. Seriously, this is one of the most groanworthy endings since Robert Pattinson went to work at the end of Remember Me.
