Can personal grief harden our will to live and help us heal organically by bridging gaps that once seemed insurmountable? Lisa Aschan-directed Thank You, I’m Sorry — a Swedish Netflix Original starring Sanna Sundqvist and Charlotta Bjorck — seeks to find the answer with a tale of two estranged sisters who find themselves in each other’s company after many years.

Sara (Sundqvist) and Linda (Bjorck) are two sisters who had drifted apart following their parents’ divorce, with Linda deciding to move in with their father while Sara stayed with their mother. But circumstances bring them closer years after at a time when each of them is going through a personal crisis.

A heavily pregnant Sara is already entangled in a broken marriage when the untimely death of her husband further increases her vulnerability. She also grapples with the expectations of her mother-in-law while caring for her first child. After things turn from bad to worse with the in-laws, Sara is forced to ask them to leave, acknowledging that she must face all her struggles alone.

At this crucial point, Sara stumbles upon her elder sister Linda, who is shackled in an abusive relationship and cannot get out of it due to her tendency to please others even at her own expense. It wasn’t a comfortable meeting as both sisters are wary of each other. Sara’s younger self resented Linda for abandoning her, while the latter was too busy dealing with her own problems at the time.

As their lives intertwine years after the separation, Sara and Linda slowly learn to live with each other with Sara arriving at a calm acceptance of her own deficiencies. Linda emerges as Sara’s surrogate mother, gently cradling the younger sister in her arms when the latter gets cold feet and flees from the hospital before her delivery. The birth of Sara’s second child marks the beginning of a new life for the two sisters, who finally come to terms with the idea of a family.

With its realistic portrayal of death, grief and revival of human relationships, Thank You, I’m Sorry celebrates the nuances of sisterhood. The final scene involving their half-demented father shows how far the sisters have come as a family, letting go of their childhood baggage.