Personal Velocity: Three Portraits. 2002. USA. Written and directed by Rebecca Miller. With Parker Posey, Kyra Sedgwick, Fairuza Balk. 35mm. 86 min.
The 2000s were a boom time for the subgenre of ensemble-cast “hyperlink cinema”, in which seemingly unrelated lives interconnect courtesy of grandiose themes and sweeping coincidences. Structured as a triptych, Personal Velocity: Three Portraits stands as both an exemplar of and counterexample to this trend, inviting viewers to compare a trio of female protagonists while declining easy judgments on their respective struggles. The first segment follows Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) as she takes the first steps away from her abusive husband, with fear and trembling and kids in tow; the second centers on Greta (Parker Posey), a hyperambitious book editor who begins an affair with an up-and-coming author, and the final act concerns Paula (Fariuza Balk), a pregnant 20something who begins a seemingly innocuous friendship with a hitchhiker while running away from her own problems. For its warts-and-all complexity, Miller’s second feature won major awards at Sundance and the Independent Spirit Awards for Miller’s direction and Ellen Kuras’ MiniDV cinematography. Viewed today, it’s a mesmerizing, heartbreaking and one-of-a-kind update on the so-called “women’s picture”.