Three months: Changing the HIV narrative – A Review
The much anticipated Three Months film from Paramount Pictures is here. And oof, we have many feelings. Starring Troye Sivan in the leading role as Caleb, it’s the story of a young gay high school graduate who had a drunken one-night stand. And let’s just say, it doesn’t end well.
Writer and director Jared Frieder has created something that we think people are going to be talking about for a long time. It’s definitely a gay coming-of-age story, but it’s so much more than that. This is a story about the new realities of HIV infection for men. Stories through the ages about this issue have largely focused on death and tragedy because that’s what the community faced for a very long time.
But that’s not the case anymore. An HIV infection is no longer a death sentence, and so Three Months depicts these new realities with expert precision. Here is our review of the long-awaited Three Months film.
Caleb’s story
Caleb (Troye Sivan) is a high school graduate with the world right in front of him. He kicks off his summer with an alcohol-fueled one-night stand but the condom breaks. With the weight of his actions on his shoulders, Caleb takes himself off to the clinic to get tested for HIV. He is especially worried because the guy he had sex with reached out to tell him that he just tested positive himself.
Naturally, Caleb is panicking. At the clinic, he meets Dr. Diaz (Javier Muñoz). The doctor, gentle and understanding, takes Caleb under his wing and invites him to a support group for people going through the same thing.
There Caleb meets Estha (Viveik Kalra), a young kid just like Caleb who is also waiting for impending HIV test results as well. The two bond pretty quickly and before they know it, they find themselves in the middle of some kind of summer fling. Caleb falls pretty hard.
While is pretty clear that Caleb has an excellent support system (a very supportive live-in grandmother and step-grandfather, and a sassy young lesbian best friend) Caleb seeks solace in Estha. Estha gets what he is going through, yaknow?
Unfortunately, that causes a rift in his relationship with bestie Dana (Brianne Tju). As the reveal date for their test results come nearer, Estha gets caught up in his head, confused and focused on the things he is going to have to face after the summer ends, positive or not, and he distances himself from Caleb. *throws remote at the television here*
With Dana not speaking to him, and Estha on the fritz, Caleb’s going to have to do this himself. Or is he?
The HIV message
One of the things that we love about Three Months most of all is that it undoubtedly changes the way we dialogue about HIV. The majority of films made about this virus document the tragedies of the past: death, isolation, and desperation. While these are all true and accurate representations of how this virus rampaged through our history, it is not the reality of the now and the future. And we need to start educating people about these new realities.
Modern medicine is so profound that HIV is no longer a death sentence. In fact, medicine is so advanced now that if folks do all the right things after becoming infected, medicine can now neutralize the body to the point where HIV is not detectable. In short, people with HIV no longer face the tragedies of those that came before them.
Three Months does an excellent job of portraying that. Caleb tells Estha over and over that regardless of whether they are positive or negative, nothing needs to change for them. They can still be together and still do all the things they want together, and that’s true.
However, Three Months does still manage to capture the fact that it is a virus. Despite the fact that it is no longer a death sentence, it still brings implications. Caleb and Estha’s anxiety over possible positive diagnosis artfully captures this juxtaposition beautifully. Not to err on the side of boring or anything, but we found Three Months to be just so socially responsible. This film is definitely going to change the way we talk about HIV moving forward and hopefully remove some of the stigmas for those living with the virus.
The ending
SPOILER ALERT: the ending of this film is understandable but INFURIATING. Caleb and Estha do not get their happy ending. Estha tells Caleb that he must look forward and forget about the thing that exists between them. Caleb accuses Estha of using him to get through the emotional journey to his test results (which are negative, by the way). But Estha and Caleb live very different lives. Estha’s parents don’t know he is gay and certainly didn’t know he was waiting for HIV test results. So Estha chooses school, family, his future, blah blah blah over Caleb.
Look, we get it, okay? We understand, but that doesn’t mean we have to love it.
However, Caleb does manage to repair his relationship with Dana though, which gives us at least some happy vibes. Caleb asks her to go with him to get his results. So at least he isn’t alone in that.
Caleb goes for his test results and… WE NEVER LEARN THE OUTCOME OF THE TEST. All the audience knows is that he ends up in New York City living his best life. So again, we understand why the filmmakers chose to do this. Really, we do. HIV is no longer a death sentence. People with HIV now live long, happy, and prosperous lives so the outcome of the test is irrelevant. Caleb can do all the things he wants, regardless of the test results. And that is exactly what he is doing.
But we went on this journey with him, yaknow? We felt his anxiety, his fear. And we were right there with him. Le sigh.
Despite this minor frustration, we loved Three Months and we think it’s an epically important film. Troye Sivan does an outstanding job as Caleb and we can’t wait to see if he decides to do more film projects in the future.
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