Personal Velocity: Three Portraits is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. It stars Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, and Fairuza Balk as three women who escape from their afflicted lives as each struggle to flee from the men who confine their personal freedom.
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 12, 2002, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Excellence in Cinematography Award. It was theatrically released in the United States on November 22, 2002 to positive reviews from critics. At the 18th Independent Spirit Awards, Miller won the John Cassavetes Award, while Posey was nominated for Best Female Lead, and Kuras was nominated for Best Cinematography.
Plot
Personal Velocity is a tale of three women who have reached a turning point in their lives. Delia is a spirited, working-class woman from a small town in New York state who leaves her abusive husband and sets out on a journey to reclaim the power she has lost. Greta is a sharp, spunky editor who is rotten with ambition. To spite the hated unfaithful ways of her father, she has settled into a complacent relationship and is struggling (not too hard) with issues of fidelity to her kind but unexciting husband. Finally Paula, who ran away from home and got pregnant, is now in a relationship she doesn't want. She's a troubled young woman who takes off on a journey with a hitchhiker after a strange, fateful encounter on a New York street.
Cast
Kyra Sedgwick as Delia Shunt
Parker Posey as Greta Herskowitz
Fairuza Balk as Paula
John Ventimiglia as Narrator
Ron Leibman as Avram Herskovitz
Wallace Shawn as Mr. Gelb
Susan Blommaert as Mrs. Toron
David Warshofsky as Kurt Wurtzle
Leo Fitzpatrick as Mylert
Tim Guinee as Lee
Release
Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 69% based on 103 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus states that the film is an "uneven, but a keenly observed and well-acted film about three women's lives." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".