Isabel Coixet’s Three Goodbyes adapts Michela Murgia’s novel, ‘Tre ciotole’ into a cinematic elegy. Alba Rohrwacher stars as Marta, a teacher unraveling after the collapse of a long relationship. Elio Germano plays Antonio, her estranged partner, whose presence lingers even as absence grows.
Sarita Choudhury adds warmth as a confidant who helps Marta navigate her grief. Coixet tells the story through fragments and silences, choosing suggestion over declaration. The film is composed like a series of pauses, where memory and reality blur. Rohrwacher delivers a nuanced performance, layering Marta’s heartbreak with flickers of resilience.
The camera finds poetry in everyday objects—a half emptied glass, a closed door, a song remembered from better days. Three Goodbyes is patient and melancholic, demanding viewers lean into its quietude. For those who listen closely, it offers a resonant meditation on endings, endurance, and the fragile grace of moving forward.
Three Goodbyes is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
