Personal Velocity (2002) User Reviews

Three intriguing stories,three potentially unsatisfying conclusions

[KUAlum26 · 7/10 · 2 May 2006]

Writer and director Rebecca Miller(daughter of legendary playwright Arthur) patches together three stories of three different women for this film and the movie itself is quite an intriguing curiosity for it.

Delia(Kyra Sedgwick,familiar yet still distinctive here)is an abused housewife and mother who's only known really one thing about herself-her sexuality-and has to find a way out of her sad,low-esteemed predicament,while wondering if she should use her sexuality or not; Greta(Parker Posey,for whom the type of roles she could inhabit are practically limitless) is a career-driven woman whose marriage is peaceful but uninspiring; and Paula(Fairuza Balk,whose angry eyes and wild visage is an ironic contrast to the scared character she's playing),has escaped a horrifying accident and now aids a runaway teen,all the while mindful of the fact that she's just learned she's pregnant.

I must say I was quite pleased with elements of the movie:the narration,the anthology of it and,of course,the actors,who all are very fine here. But I suppose what left me dry here was the way these stories played out. I will not go into any detail so as to inadvertently throw out spoilers,but it to me felt like these stories were resolved in ways that seemed only evident to the writer herself. I read one reviewer describe these tales as sorts of "Women's lib" stories,and that may be true,and not being a woman myself and certainly not a feminist,I suppose if these endings seemed lost on me,well,that's my problem I suppose.

Not a movie for those who absolutely NEED their films to have a sort of set,rising-plot/climax/denouement model in order to digest their usage of 90 min to 2 hours of time,but I suspect that the film's creator doesn't really care about that. She set out to portray three ordinary yet intriguing characters and,for the most part,I feel like she succeeded.

Intense and redeeming enough to overcome the awkward fliming and editing

[secondtake · 7/10 · 25 August 2013]

Personal Velocity (2002)

Literally three short movies that have a similar sense of crisis for the leading woman, but which set up mostly contrasts and comparisons. It's dramatic, interesting, sometimes difficult emotional stuff. The intentions are superb, and the acting focused and believable. In all, as a low-budget indie production, this has seriousness and depth.

It also is awkward enough in its filming to keep it from quite taking off, or letting you get fully absorbed. At first the very simple (and often imperfect) camera-work seems like smart stylizing, but then it's clear it's also an issue of making do with limitations. There are even moments that shift to a series of still frames in sequence, which feels like artistic invention until you realize it's not really contributing to the larger feeling of things.

This isn't quite a nitpick, but it does counterbalance the rawness of the acting, rather than enhance it.

The three stories are similar in the sense the woman are forced to survive in relationships, and in worlds, that are often hostile and confusing. And what's great is how they all do, in fact survive. As bad, or as uncertain, as their lives get, there is finally that pulling up by the bootstraps and realizing that better things are possible.

You'll hardly think this is the case in the first of the three stories, as the leading woman is portrayed as very strong and yet brutally weaker than her crazed husband. This shift is so shocking it might make some viewers quit the movie. But there is redemption even in this story. And in the second story, which is partly about greed and ambition, the tone changes dramatically, moving from a very poor to a very rich situation. The third story crosses other lines and solidifies the larger intention of the movie as a set of comparable, if unrelated, scenarios.

It's good stuff, and you want mostly to see the director (and screenwriter) Rebecca Miller (who also did "Regarding Henry") continue to make really interesting movies.

Engaging and Different Movie About the Lives of Three Women

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 19 October 2004]

'Personal Velocity: Three Portraits' is an engaging and different movie about the lives of three women. With great direction, camera, narration and performance of the cast, it hooks the attention of the viewer until the last scene. The stories have in common an accident and three woman intending to change their lives leaving their mates. Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) is the daughter of a hippie, abused in her adolescence by her friends, married with a former boy-friend of high-school and having three children. She leaves her husband, who beats her, with the children. In a new town, beginning a new life working as a waitress and living on favor in the garage of a high school friend, she repeats the same mistake of her youth. Greta (Parker Posey) is an editor, who has never gotten close to her father after his divorce of her mother. She is married with a simple guy who loves her, but she is sort of nymphomaniac. When she becomes successful in her career, she gets closer to her father again and returns to her former ambitious way of life. Paula (Fairuza Balk) is a woman who left her family and moved alone to Manhattan. She is rescued from the streets by a man, and starts living with him. When she gets pregnant, she becomes confused with the situation and leaves home. An accident first and an incident with a lonely and wounded boy later helps her to decide her destiny. 'Personal Velocity: Three Portraits' is a nice and attractive independent low budget movie. I have really not understood why the stories are narrated by a man, since they are about women. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): 'O Tempo de Cada Um' ('The Time of Each One')

An Intimate Thread

[uberchick · 10 May 2002]

I saw this film tonight at the First Annual Tribeca Film Festival and understood its success at Sundance. In short, this film is about the awakening of three different women in very different lives and circle around a news report of a shooting in Manhattan and an ensuing car accident. With the telling of each woman's tale, Miller uses a brilliant 'degree of relation' to the accident in order to develop an engaging and powerful film.

Delia casually watches the news report of the accident while waiting for the cook to bring up her next order in a small-town diner in upstate New York. Though the audience does not see a particularly unusual response that she has to it, we can imagine that her difficult circumstances allow her to relate to it on a level of shared human suffering.

Greta, who's story is told in a series of flashbacks, watches it on the morning news minutes before she has her epiphany about her failing marriage and the new turn that her life is taking as a prominent editor for a large Manhattan publishing house. Because it is the only scene in her story that takes place in the present time, the audience is left to wonder what sort of pivotal role the news report has played in her epiphany.

Finally, Paula's story brings the accident close to home as she is a witness to it. Her epiphany was a direct result of the accident since it was a near-death experience for her. She's not only shocked from the impact of it, but her struggle to explain it with cosmic signs allows her to transcend the accident and the events following it.

The performances were real, the direction was brilliant, and the common thread that ran through the intimate details of the women's awakenings flowed easily, despite the segmented telling of their tales. Miller's work in this film has inspired me to seek out her feature debut, _Angela_ as well.

uneven but all interesting

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 11 July 2015]

Delia Shunt lives with her abusive father after her mother left. She became the school slut. Then she (Kyra Sedgwick) marries Kurt Wurtzle who turns out to be even more abusive than her father. She escapes with her three kids to live in the garage of a chubby former classmate who she helped on occasion.

Greta Herskowitz (Parker Posey) has been married to the boring Lee for four year as he seems to have lost his ambition over time. She's a cookbook editor. Hot writer Thavi Matola specifically asks for her to edit his next book. She starts an affair with him. Her father was a highly successful lawyer who divorced her Auschwitz-survivor mother for his young assistant. She stopped seeing her father.

Paula (Fairuza Balk) picks up a hitchhiker and drives back to her mother after running away two years ago. She's pregnant but she doesn't want to be. She almost got run over. She's not sure what to do until he discovers wounds on the hitchhiking kid.

There are three stories and the main connection is that there are three interesting female lead characters. I really like the first story. I like that she's so defensive that she comes off as mean-spirited. I would like for the story to expand and see her character evolve. It feels like a movie cut off after the first third. The second story is different. Although Greta's husband is suppose to be a dud, it would be nice to have a more compelling actor playing a dud. It's a fine short story but I'm not particularly interested in watching more of that relationship. The third story is similar to the first in that Paula is struggling. That's also an interesting short story. This time, I wish the kid is a more compelling actor. He could have broken this section wide open but he doesn't have the charisma. All three are interesting but I like the first one more.

eh

[cherold · 6/10 · 12 April 2004]

These three separate stories of women at turning points in their lives are very much in the mode of the stories the New Yorker was putting out 15 years ago (and perhaps still are; I haven't read a New Yorker in years). You've got a character, you have some events, and then the story ends and you say, not a hell of a lot happened here. These are pure character studies, and I'm not a big fan of character studies. I had mixed feelings about the film making. At times it seemed effective, at times it seemed a little gimmicky, as in still shot montages, and some things I couldn't make up my mind about. One was the voiceover, inexplicably spoken by a man even though the words feel very female. My first reaction to the voiceover was, here's an author so in love with her words that she couldn't give them up when moving from novel to film. On the other hand, some of the interesting insights in the movie couldn't really be expressed without voiceover. On the other hand, that's always the case with movies, and filmmakers have learned to accept that you can't give all your characters' inner thoughts and that that's okay.

But my main problem was I was just kind of bored by it all. Everything was mildly interesting but nothing really caught me, although the third story felt the most effective.

My girlfriend seemed very moved a couple of times, but that's not hard to do.

What Exactly Was The Point Of This Movie?

[Darkest_Rose · 6/10 · 31 March 2003]

Personal Velocity is about these three woman who are each faced to make a big decision. In the first story there is Delia(Kyra Sedgwick)who gets constantly beaten up by her abusive husband and even though she loves him she takes her children and leaves him. In the second story there is Greta(Parker Posey)a woman with a successful career and a nice loving husband but she isn't happy and satisfied inside and finds herself constantly cheating on him. Finally, in the third story there is Paula(Fairuza Balk)a woman that has ran away from home and picks up a abused young hitchhiker. Okay, i get it, this story is all about these woman with some kind of problems but what exactly was this movie trying to say to it's audience, trying to teach us? What exactly was the point? The acting though was very powerful and strong by all three actresses. I would give Personal Velocity 6/10

Not equal to the sum of its parts.

[=G= · 7/10 · 18 March 2003]

"Personal Velocity" squanders its run time on a narrated flick which is chopped into thirds with no synergism, each delivering a powerful though brief character study of a woman with issues. With some serious talent on both sides of the lens, this flick is more likely an auteur pleaser than an audience pleaser. Recommended for fans of Sedgwick, Posey, and Balk and indie lovers. Best saved for broadcast. (B)

Note - According to the stats on this website, "Personal Velocity" is the antithesis of a "chick flick" scoring much lower with females than males.

Personal triumph

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 7 January 2003]

This film, directed and written by Rebecca Miller, is a very satisfying experience for a new director who, here, is adapting her own material with a lot of relish and savoir-faire. There's a certain elegance in the way she treats her characters, always respectful, yet incisive. The only complain we could raise is the fact that each story is very short, so when we are still savoring each one, individually, Ms Miller, for reasons of timing, pulls them from under us.

The first story, Delia, shows a woman's worst fears in being married to a wife beater of the worst kind. She might have had dreams of making a happy home for her family, but her man has another thing in mind. This woman is a step above white trash. She tries hard to get herself together but everything keeps interfering with her independence. Played with gusto by Kyra Sedwick, Delia ends up as a waitress in order to support herself and the children. Her encounter with the bully from the restaurant is an exercise in how low they want her to go, but she comes out a winner.

The second story, Greta, is the best of the three. With the help of the great Parker Posey, this Greta comes out as the tough woman she wants everyone to think of her, but deep down, inside her, she's a vulnerable and frightened and unfulfilled over achiever. Ms Posey has never shown so many nuances in a performance that is so economic in the terms that are dictated by the length of the story. We get to know more about her than the narrator ever tells us. Every expression on this actress face is true. It's surprising what has been achieved here with the collaboration of the director and the player.

The last story, Paula, is the weakest. It's all about a very confused young woman who's out on the road to see her parents. She has very deep problems. Along the way she picks up a hitchhiker who stays with her through the trip. Paula is in a voyage of discovering, but little does she know that what she needs is what she has left at home: her Haitian man, who obviously cares a lot about her. As played by Fairuza Balk, she shows the turmoil in her head that only she can resolve.

We hope Miss Miller's next time out will be very soon because she's got a feel for getting inside her characters and finding angles they didn't even suspect of having.

3 stars (out of 4)

[mweston · 7/10 · 11 January 2003]

As the title indicates, this film is made up of three stories. The first is about Delia (Kyra Sedgwick), who has two children and is married to a man who we quickly find out abuses her. The film's male narrator fills us in on Delia's history as we see dream-like flashbacks to her in high school, where she was known for her ass and for being a slut. Back in the present day we see her bloodied from her husband's attack and needing to decide what to do.

The second story is about Greta (Parker Posey). She is a cookbook editor in New York City, and is married to a man who she is sure will never leave her. Her father (Ron Leibman) is a powerful lawyer who figuratively towers over both she and her husband.

The third story is about Paula (Fairuza Balk), who is pregnant and running away from a not very pleasant life when she picks up a hitchhiker.

There are similarities between the stories, most obviously that all are about women, and slightly less obviously that all have significant personal decisions to make in their lives. The stories also intersect, as all such films seem to be required to do, but this device doesn't really add much to the film. There are also differences between the women. Delia has two children, Paula is pregnant, while Greta is intentionally (presumably) childless, and is also much better off than the other two.

The looks of the three stories are very different. Greta's story, in the middle, is filmed very calmly and intellectually, and looks relatively conventional. Paula's story is filmed with enough nervous camera movement (SpastiCam™) to make people normally immune to motion sickness at the movies start to feel a bit queasy. Delia's story is also gritty, but with a more down-to-Earth feeling. Note that all three were filmed on digital video and transferred to film for exhibition. The middle story reminds you that digital video doesn't *have* to look bad, so the look of the other two stories is clearly intentional.

The film was written and directed by Rebecca Miller, daughter of the playwright Arthur Miller and wife of Daniel Day-Lewis. On the whole it has some very good performances and is worth seeing, but it isn't a pleasant experience, and the short length of each segment prevents it from getting into as much depth as I might like.

I saw this at Talk Cinema in Palo Alto, CA on 11/23/2002. Here are a few more tidbits I picked up there (although some observations above probably also originated from other people at the screening):

* The acting, while seeming like it might have been at least partially improvised, was entirely scripted.

* Each of the three segments was filmed in about 5 or 6 days.

* The narrator is a man "for contrast."

* Greta's story might be autobiographical.

Reasons I couldn't watch for 10 minutes

[hollywoodshack · 3/10 · 17 April 2017]

Closeup- Beth in Car Door Window-Door handle opening as someone gets in-Closeup of his handsome face--Beth: Can you excuse me, I have to stop for donuts. Closeup of Shop Door, Beth walking in then ignition key turning as hitch hiker moves her car. Beth looks away. Beth: Hurry with that couple of dozen, I'm pregnant. She carries the donut box out, gets into the car. The Hitch Hiker's hand grabs a donut from the box, Closeup of a donut hole. His mouth munches one down. Cut to Rain falling on car back window, steam rising and groans from within while he makes out with her. Later, interior, apartment, Beth's hand is seen picking up a script. The cover page reads, "Never use close camera angles or other devices so often it makes the viewer lose interest in the characters and story. Try to film a movie the way you'd like a live audience to watch it. Grade F, see me. Professor Hollywood Hack."

DV masterpiece

[mbucky · 9/10 · 4 March 2005]

Personal Velocity is one of the most beautifully shot digital films I have ever seen. The story is uniquely touching and develops a woman's perspective on life and love into a series of lives and events. The cinematography by Ellen Kuras defies the documentary roughness of the digital experience. Often the insert shots in the film are the most enthralling, focusing on small objects to extract the film's delicate beauty. Defying the need to connect the narratives, the film manages to create thematic connections, and forces the viewer to think more about the images and the characters' emotional journeys. One major drawback, the narrator is distracting, but if you can dismiss the intriguing insertion of a male voice over a female narrative, you can enjoy the interesting perspective on a woman's film. Wonderfully shot, well-written, worth-watching.

Absorbing Vignettes, Digital Filmmaking Not an Asset to the Story

[lawprof · 7/10 · 9 December 2002]

[WARNING-SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD]

Writer/director Rebecca Miller in "Personal Velocity" creates an absorbing pastiche of vignettes showing the lives, in microcosm and macro-crisis, of three women. A Varick Street (Manhattan) shooting followed by a car crash is a veiled element joining the lives of the women who do not know each other. Two hear of the incident on the news while the third is involved. Its significance is less than some have found but it does create a time contextuality that insures seeing the three as occupants of a wide but interrelated world.

Kyra Sedgwick is Delia, a mother of three with a past of rampant promiscuity and a present of painful-to-watch extreme domestic abuse at the hands of her husband. Fleeing, she takes refuge with a high school classmate whose generosity she accepts but can't acknowledge. Delia is a picture of impotent, mounting rage. She loves her children but does she have a clue how to move beyond the day-to-day existence in which she's hiding?

As Greta, Parker Posey inhabits a role that must be second-nature to her: witty, an ambitious, cuttingly sharp Manhattan intellectual. She's a book editor but not the shallow ditzy one from "You've Got Mail." Torn between love for her adoring husband and a drive to move on professionally without knowing, really, why she's so motivated, Greta wallows in self-pity and self-love in more or less equal quantities.

In the last vignette, Fairuza Balk as Paula gives a powerful performance as a young, pregnant unmarried woman who flees Manhattan and her boyfriend to an unsatisfactory visit with her mother and her very dislikable new boyfriend. A chance encounter with a truly disturbed, and probably dangerous, young man gives her pause and leads to some reflection and, as I saw it, growth. Paula may be the one woman of the trio who leaves the viewer believing things are going to work out for her.

The title, "Personal Velocity," comes from the segment with Greta when her successful lawyer father remarks that his daughter has always had her own velocity. But measuring velocity by itself yields little information of value unless trajectory can also be assessed. The women moves with a certain force and speed but where is each going? Is there a target? Can an end destination be discerned? The success of Miller's storytelling is the inescapable invitation to imagine the trajectory for each of these characters.

Rebecca Miller manages to tell three very different tales without judgment. The viewer can speculate about right and wrong and possible resolutions. And the very fine performances insure that such thoughts will occupy most who see this film long after leaving the theater.

Miller, the daughter of Arthur Miller, based the script on her book of the same title. I haven't read it but now plan to do so.

The movie was produced using digital technology and it shows. While some feel that the raw and slightly foggy and unfocused screen adds to the dramatic intensity I found it distracting as is the overuse of handheld cameras. Someone prone to motion sickness might just feel a bit queasy at points here.

The three women could never be together as friends yet Miller has crafted and her actors have projected an underlying universality of women's experiences.

7/10.

One-third good, two-thirds blah

[MBunge · 4/10 · 5 May 2010]

Personal Velocity is like a filmed version of an audio book. Rebecca Miller wrote the novel on which this movie is based and is a great example of how authors are not always the best choice to adapt their own work for the silver screen. Essentially three separate vignettes about women stuck in bad situations, this film is also a great example that some stories just don't transfer from the page to the screen.

The movie begins with the story of Delia Shunt (Kyra Sedgwick). Delia started out as a high school slut with a magnificent ass but grew up to be a middle aged woman with three kids and an abusive husband. Finally fed up with her husband's beatings, Delia takes her kids and leaves. First, they end up in a shelter. Then they take up residence in the garage of the fat girl Delia used to stick up for in high school. Delia takes a job at a local diner, gives a hand job to the son of the diner's owner…and that's pretty much her story.

Then we move on to Greta (Parker Posey). She's the black sheep from a family of Jewish high achievers, who drops out of the fast lane to success after her father divorces her mother and starts a new family with another woman. Greta marries a safe, nice, unambitious man who she nevertheless cheats on. Then Greta gets a promotion at work and finds herself back on track to the top of the economic ladder and realizes she's going to dump the decent guy she married.

Finally, we meet Paula. She's a young woman who ran away from home and ended up finding a boyfriend and living with him in the big city. Paula gets pregnant, doesn't tell her boyfriend but instead, goes out clubbing. She meets a guy who ends up getting killed next to her on the street. That sends Paula driving out of the city, where he picks up a teenage hitchhiker on the way to see her mom. Paula discovers the boy hitchhiker had been brutally abused and offers to let him stay with Paula and her boyfriend. The boy ends up stealing Paula's car and she lets him get away with it.

Firstly, you may notice that the stories of these women get lamer as they go along. Delia's is the best of the lot, with a real beginning, middle and end and an actual point of Delia controlling her sexuality instead of letting it control her. Greta's segment isn't so much a story as a character portrait of a young woman caught between what she wants and what she's good at. Paula's story isn't even a real portrait. It's more like a couple of strange incidents in a young woman's life that mean a lot to her but don't have much meaning to anyone else. And as Personal Velocity is less than 90 minutes long, we never get the whole picture of any of these women. It's like the Cliffsnotes version of three Lifetime Channel movies squished into one film.

The characters also get weaker as the movie goes along. Delia is a hard but likable woman that you can empathize with. When she's angry or mean, Sedgwick lets you see that behavior as Delia's defenses against a world that's treated her poorly. Greta is, frankly, a bitch who's problems are largely of her own making. Posey tries to make her relatable, but she's fundamentally not nearly as sympathetic as the movie thinks she is. Paula is unhappy and that's about it. The story gives no genuine depth to the character and Balk doesn't provide any in her performance.

Miller's direction is pedestrian, at best, and her use of an intrusive male narrator voice to, I would guess, simply read passages out of the book throughout the film is the mark of someone who doesn't understand the visual medium. Instead of making a movie, she tries to recreate the experience of reading her book. But if you want the experience of reading a book, you read a book. This movie is the equivalent of someone writing a short story about what it's like to listen to Britney Spears sing "Hit me baby, one more time".

You might have been able to make a better movie just out of the story of Delia Shunt. She's a strong, interesting character facing meaningful challenges and responding to them in an intriguing way. The other two segments of Personal Velocity simply don't measure up. This film needed a filmmaker who could look at the book and recognize what would and wouldn't work as a movie. Rebecca Miller couldn't do that.

I hope Personal Velocity, the book, was good. Personal Velocity, the movie, is nothing to write home about.

Trite and shallow

[jonandclaire · 14 July 2003]

I am hard-pressed to explain the praise heaped on this movie, and must sadly choose the obvious. This film would never have been touted as it has if it were made by someone other than Arthur Miller's daughter/Daniel Day Lewis's wife.

Of the film's three vignettes--domestic violence survivor, conflicted editor, and confused runaway--the second is most telling. Greta, the failure to her family, craves success and power in the literary world and only needs to have her innate talents recognized to do so. Her skill is "trimming the fat" from others' writing. However, Ms. Miller seems to have had no such attention paid to her own work. The incessant and intrusive voiceover dialogue, I assume taken directly from her collection of short stories, features pseudo-deep lines that made me literally laugh out loud.

In addition, I found many of the camera tricks and plot devices amateurish and the characters shallow and essentialized. I cannot recommend this film, which basks in its own specialness and its claims to gritty reality. Ms. Miller is a tourist in the lives of the struggling women she attempts to portray.

The characters are resonating along with their issues

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 6 April 2023]

(2002) Personal Velocity: Three Portraits DRAMA

Adapted from her own book, who is also credited as director Rebecca Miller, showcasing three stories from three different women of Delia (Kyra Sedgwick), Greta (Parker Posey) and Paula (Fairuza Balk) unrelated to one another intertwined with each other as a result of a car accident. As viewers witness the daily lives of our three main characters as Delia is struggling to get out an abusive relationship; Greta's dysfunctional relationship with her father and her well intention husband. And finally pregnant Paula assuming she can escape her problems by running away and goes on a road trip, along the way she picks up a hitchhiker.

Beautiful narration of three lives

[indieb0i · 6/10 · 17 October 2003]

Personal Velocity is an odd film to watch and ponder. It's broken up into three relatively unrelated segments that each tells the story of a woman trying to overcome difficulties in her life, whether self-imposed or a product of her environment. There is Delia, trapped in an abusive relationship, Greta, who ponders a new career that could change her whole life, and Paula, a runaway contemplating fate after escaping a tragic accident.

This is a film that has the feel of a book - largely due to the rather heavy narration. Often that type of narration hampers the flow of a movie and acts as nothing more than an explanation for those who can't follow the plot; however, in this case, the voice over is one of a poetic guide merely showing us what lies before us - forcing the audience to draw their own conclusions. Such a demand upon the viewer is important in Personal Velocity as the stories do not necessarily paint the picture you might expect.

Overall I would say this was a beautiful, personally-introspective film that earned it's accolades and is well worth the time spent watching it.

Insightful, Intelligent, and Meaningful

[tabuno · 7/10 · 25 January 2019]

25 May 2003. This was a gem of a movie that held heart and subtle moments of deep, resonating insight for women. There storylines and narrative work together...particularly the last portrait with Paula who picks up a young hitchhiker after running off and finding out she's pregnant. The narrative is surprisingly non-intrusive and the contradictions of emotions by the end of the movie are such that they are perfectly balanced against one another to make complete sense. The first portrait of Delia is a raw exposure to an unlikely female character who herself faces a very unlikeable husband. Yet by the end of the movie a sense of female resolution, even of the moderate moment in her life is priceless and filled with a strongs sense of identity and self-hood. It is only the incongruous second portrait which begs the question - of love and success. It is with Greta that by the end of the its conclusion I am perplexed by its logic and bewildered by its emotions - leaving me unsatisfied almost as Greta is with her tears.

It is difficult to evaluate a seven out of ten star movie because in order for this movie to succeed it required something not so commercial and smooth, polished. These intimate little gems succeeded just because they were rough. It is only with reluctance that I proceed to only give this movie a seven and use the excuse that the second portrayed left me puzzled instead of satisfied.

Not as bad as rating might indicate

[travbick · 7/10 · 7 December 2002]

To be able to enjoy this movie, you first need to be open minded about digital video. You have to realize that DV will never look as pretty as film, so just get over it. That aside, the story itself is centered around three main characters, all women, who each seek freedom from the men in their lives. The strength in the film is not in the screenplay, but rather the emotion that is drawn out of the characters by the actresses themselves. Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey and Fairuza Balk each give excellent dramatic performances. However, one fault I had with the film was the fact too much background information on each character was released through narration instead of being shown through action. It seemed as if the director/writer, (Rebecca Miller daughter of famed American playwright Arthur Miller), got lazy and decided to just take up screen time quoting directly from her book. Nevertheless, I found the film enjoyable and definitely worth seeing. I rated this film 7/10.

Better Than the Ordinary Movie Fodder

[lunterborn · 10/10 · 13 May 2003]

This movie is the story of three woman, told in separate segments. Each of the characters has to some extent engaged in self-delusion as to who they really are as persons and each one finds herself in the midst of a major life crisis. As each character deals with their situation, they begin to find out who they really are as persons and to find a possible path to self liberation, happiness and fulfillment in their lives. Delia(Kyra Sedgwick), is an abused wife and mother, who finds personal liberation by finding the courage to finally leave her abusive husband, and then finds her personal dignity and power by rediscovering her sexuality. Greta(Parker Posey), is a wife and daughter, who has long suffered, first by being caught in the middle in a struggle between her powerful, ambitious father and her weaker, more fragile mother for her love and affection, then later in an act of rebellion against her father, ends up in a loving but passionless marriage in which she has suppressed all her own personal ambitions. An opportunity for success rekindles in her all her own passions and ambition, as she struggles to finally break free from the influence of her parents, to come to terms with her husband and marriage and to be who she really is as a person. Paula(Fairuza Balk) is a young woman, who finds herself pregnant and who after a terrible accident, in a state of shock starts out on a journey to try and escape and make sense of what is happening to her. An encounter with an abused runaway, helps her refocus on her own plight and discover her own ability to care about others besides her self. All the acting in the film is excellent, but Parker Posey as Greta really stands out. This is the first film that makes use of Parker's ability as an actress to convey emotion and internal conflict, without dialog, simply by the expression on her beautiful face, and it is absolutely stunning to watch. She turns Greta, who could have been very unsympathetic, into a character that one can care about. This beautifully written, beautifully acted movie is very intelligent and very complex. One that makes the viewer think deeply. Which in an age of almost total shallowness in the majority of films (all flash, no thought!), a movie that stimulates thought is a true breat of fresh air. There are no tight, neatly wrapped up endings in this movie, you have no way of knowing if the characters have made the right choices in their lives. This makes it tough for audiences and critics to embrace this movie, but if you do look deeply at it, and think about it, you will come to appreciate and love it.

mostly men being men and ruining women's lives

[livialamas · 7/10 · 4 January 2023]

The movie starts like a punch in the stomach as the narrator begins to tell about Delia. Futhermore, the movie is good as a whole but has some loose ends (i guess due to the time "limit").

I enjoyed the plot overall, but the cinematography was too "free", so the camera wasn't fixed, but followed the characters - which seems to annoy me, because it's hard to make it well done. I also didn't like the "screenshots" moments...just pointless. Finally, the soundtrack didn't stand out for me, but kinda interesting how the stories "connect".

Delia is a woman that suffers domestic violence from her husband - with who she has 3 kids. At least where i live, this "story" is recurrent...you see plenty of Delias everyday all over the world, actually. The only part i didn't like was that scene where it seems she went back to her past... maybe the director couldve put it in another way. Idk. Was surprised seeing Wuntch! (Brooklyn 99) didn't check the cast hehe

the second part, about Greta and her fidelity problems, started out really fine, but i knew something was gonna happen. And i got really pissed off about it (i hate cheating). All the making out scenes felt so unnatural.

The final part, about Paula. I was envolved in it for the most part, but the end was so ???

I Recommend Ms. Miller Go Into Advertising

[samkan · 2/10 · 3 December 2008]

Talented film makers know cinematic ways of painting in ambiguity. It takes skill to paint in gray, i.e., not employing a point of view but requiring the viewer to fill in his/her own. Conversely, adapting a strong point of view requires realism, convincing people and dialog and - above all - a degree of wisdom. Herein, Rebecca Miller displays neither talent nor skill and lays her ignorance bare.

PV's condescending narration makes plain the author/director's misguided empathy for her characters, none of whom accept an ounce of responsibility for their circumstances or behavior. Should she argue her indifference to her women, Miller has done a terrible job of conveying her message. Should she concede her concern, Miller is not a person one would ever care to know. Miller has to pick one or the other though both result in a terrible movie.

Delia is foolish and behaves inexcusably. Her segment functions best as an explanation of why she is where she is. The scene where she insults a well-intentioned social worker hurts worse considering Miller thinks Delia is the stronger of the two.

Apparently Greta is unaware that only she controls her life. Virtue, integrity, and morality are not subjective: You either have them to some degree or you don't. Greta doesn't, which appears not just fine but commendable to Miller.

Paula, at least, deserves sympathy but is dumber than mud. Yet the final frames anoint her with omnipotence. Paula is alone, poor, stranded and pregnant but we know she'll make it because of the smile, belly rub and camera close up. How convincing.

I shudder to think about the children: the ones Greta has, Paula will have and Greta may have. Worse, I worry about any kids Rebecca Miller has or may have. In sum, rarely have I been so insulted by a film.

A Beautifully Acted, Melancholy Film Experience

[Regret1017 · 8/10 · 22 October 2005]

It is so hard to find a film that actually elicits a genuine emotional response from its viewers, but you need look no further than "Personal Velocity". The direction and scriptwriting are both wonderful and the acting is definitely award-worthy. "Personal Velocity" explores a major event in the lives of three different women, Delia (Kyra Sedgwick), Greta (Parker Posey) and Paula (Fairuza Balk). The first segment of the three explores Delia's quest to rebuild her life after escaping from an abusive household. Kyra Sedgwick is completely believable as Delia and delivers one of the best performances of her career. The second segment tells the story of Greta, an unknown businesswoman, suddenly thrust into the limelight and all of the troubles that it brings. Parker Posey, while not quite as good as she usually is in comedic films (see her amazing turn in The House of Yes), still gives an admirable performance. The third and final segment is one of the most emotional, showing a confused young woman, Paula, witnessing a tragic accident and hitting the road in panic, where she picks up a badly injured hitch-hiker. Fairuza Balk captures the character's quirks perfectly, giving you the impression of watching a real-life happening. The script is wonderfully timed and striking, with the exception of some of the narrator's lines, the cinematography perfectly captures the mood, confusion and panic of the storyline, and the three actresses show the potential for brilliance that all three have. All in all, a beautiful, melancholy film experience.

Personal Velocity - Maybe Personal Indulgences

[krocheav · 2/10 · 22 April 2020]

Rebecca Miller's second feature movie is just what you would expect to win awards at Sundance and similar festivals. Others can expect to sit through very roughly sketched plotlines - in this case, it's three rather shallow stories about women that don't particularly link up well or offer any satisfactory resolutions.

The photography by Ellen Kuras consists of some shaky (cheap and trendy) video handheld shots, mostly taken with the zoom lens on extreme tight --producing a nauseating wobble cam-- with the operator attempting to frame the subject within a rocky, sea-sick making image. The ugly, sensationalistic situations and course dialogue are mostly drawn from the perspective of disenfranchised immature females. Some of the title characters prefer to live out female fantasies with all takers (even when in successful relationships of their own making)...actions that predictably lead to utter chaos. All these women are quite unbelievably devoid of the ability to learn from any obvious life experiences or moral sensibilities.

It's difficult to fully sympathise with these somewhat sordid characters or feel all that much empathy for their all too obvious and inevitable outcomes. Performances are OK with Michael Rohatyn supplying a cute minimalist main theme. Rebecca's Dad, Arthur Miller, may have been a notable and worthy writer but that's clearly not always guaranteed to transfer to the offspring. As an example of the 'deep' and arty writing, consider this line read by the stories narrator: "She felt the ambition drain out of her like pus from a lanced boil"... Strictly for undemanding viewers or the 'types' we see introducing movies on Foxtel, etc. Others may give up within the first 15 mins and be better off for doing so.

Strike one out of three

[Philby-3 · 17 August 2003]

A critic I read before seeing this movie (Lynden Barber of the Sydney Morning Herald) opined that it was a book illustrated with film rather than a proper movie. He's right, but that does not make it a complete write-off. There is as much voice-over as in a football match (why use a male?) but the visuals still convey some of the stories, which are not all without interest.

There are three separate stories of women having trouble with men; two from the working class and one an upwardly mobile book editor. They are tenuously connected by a street incident. One has a bashing husband, another, a husband she has outgrown, and the third has problems with her boyfriend, her stepfather and her maternal instinct. All seem to favour running away as the solution; stand and fight is not the female way, at least not in New York State.

The author of the original short stories is Rebecca Miller, who also directed from her own screenplay. This certainly accounts for the literary quality. Rebecca has a famous literary father, the great Arthur Miller, and I suspect he is in the film somewhere as a character or at least a presence. The working class girl stories are too trite to be involving (though very well played by Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuza Balk) but the middle story of the book editor (played coolly by Parker Posey) rings true. The use of digital video suits the subject-matter (Dogma 95 on the Hudson) and the whole thing is competently realised. It is the weakness in the first and third stories that disappoints.