‘Three Months’ is an Impressive, Comedic Entry into the HIV Canon

I vividly remember the first time I took an HIV test. It’s not an experience one is likely to forget very easily, especially if you started testing yourself in the 2000s or earlier. You would have to wait weeks to get your results and that time can really mess with your brain. As you wait, every single scenario plays over and over in your head. For a high school graduate in 2011 in Jared Frieder’s agile comedy, Three Months, that waiting is truly the hardest part, but Frieder’s film stands out as an entertaining, funny, and heartwarming example of queer resilience.

Troye Sivan plays Caleb, a recent graduate whose summer starts off by discovering that his latest hookup has tested positive for HIV. When he goes to get tested, he tells his Dr. Diaz (Javier Muñoz), that the condom broke. “Apparently, it was expired–like a fucking avocado,” Caleb explains. After Caleb’s initial appointment, Diaz informs him that antibodies could still develop, and he encourages Caleb to attend a support group to meet other people.

As the summer months pass and Caleb awaits his results, he spends most of his days getting high at his convenience store job with his friend Dara (played by Brianne Tju), and he begins hanging out with Estha (Viviek Kalra), another young man facing the same situation as Caleb is. Caleb lives with his grandmother (played by Ellen freaking Burstyn!) and her live-in boyfriend, (played by Louis freaking Gossett Jr.) because his relationship with his mother remains strained.

There are so many films in the HIV and AIDS canon, but I’ve never seen anything quite like Three Months. Most stories focus on the diagnosis itself, and we very seldom are treated with characters who might become positive and have to take the next steps. We cannot have films and television allow characters to become their diagnosis. With the advances in testing and treatment (and possibly a cure on the horizon?), Three Months acknowledges the past but is hopeful for the future. If Caleb tests positive, his life isn’t only about HIV. With simple tweaks to Caleb’s outlook, Frieder has created something revolutionary.

Troye Sivan is a natural as Caleb. In his first major film role, Sivan ably mixes the heaviness of the subject matter while delivering snappy, hilarious dialogue. When he tells his doctor about his hookup, he explains, “He could name every Best Actress winner since 1962. Of course, I slept with him.” If that isn’t the most succinct, Louis Virtel line ever utter in a queer film, I don’t know what is. There is a specificity and verve to Frieder’s writing and direction that automatically make him a director to watch out for. There is even a vintage Dolly Parton portrait in Diaz’s office, and Sivan and Kalra capture that nervous but thrilling sexual chemistry when you first want to date someone. Who knew that Sivan was such a relaxed, capable comedic actor? He is a force in this film and makes it look so easy.

Three Months is a special and energetic film. I grew up with films depicting queer people afraid of their own sexuality and their own bodies, and this entry is celebratory and life-affirming. We need more films that invoke intelligence and joy, and Three Months has that in spades.

Three Months debuts on Paramount+ on February 23.