Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
2002 film by Rebecca Miller
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 struggles 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.
01Plot
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.
02Cast
- 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
- Nicole Murphy as May Wurtzle
03Release
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".
04Awards and nominations
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18th Independent Spirit Awards | John Cassavetes Award | Rebecca Miller | Won |
| Best Female Lead | Parker Posey | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography | Ellen Kuras | Nominated | |
| International Istanbul Film Festival | Golden Tulip | Rebecca Miller | Nominated |
| Special Prize of the Jury | Nominated | ||
| People's Choice Award | Nominated |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Personal Velocity: Three Portraits”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Personal velocity poster.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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