Personal Velocity (R, 2002)

With near perfect adherence to her original text, has adapted three short stories from her book Personal Velocity for this engaging film about life's turning points. Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) leaves her abusive husband in order to protect her three children; Greta (Parker Posey) leaves her milquetoast husband for her new career; and, Paula (Fairuza Balk) leaves childhood behind as she comes to terms with her pregnancy. Where they were discrete, the three stories are now tenuously linked by a narrative trick and geographical proximity to one another. Each of these characters has her own source of power, from Delia's sexuality to Greta's intellect to Paula's detachment, and each must use this power to attain her own "personal velocity". This shorthand term for personal development and self-definition is used by Greta's father, Avram (Ron Liebman), but is echoed in many aspects of the film. How personal velocity relates to unresolved issues with one's parents and lovers is a theme Miller "herself the daughter of Arthur Miller and wife of Daniel Day Lewis" investigates with a hungry curiosity.

Director Rebecca Miller has transplanted her short, ambitiously descriptive sentences from page to screen, taking advantage of the often unflattering effect of shooting in grainy digital camera to mirror the warts-and-all descriptiveness of the text. Kyra Sedgwick clearly relishes the role of steely-eyed, Delia, who leaves the brutal Kurt (David Warshofsky) for a hard new life fending for her kids. Parker Posey plays Greta with a deft touch and apparent ease, providing the least-self-conscious of the storylines and some much needed levity. It is left to Fairuza Balk, who does an excellent job of projecting an iron will and feral impishness, to wrap up the stories with the sadly predictable "answer" to life's big questions. Have a baby.

This dramaturgical triptych is drawn with a surgeon's precision, clearly labeling each heroine with her individual attribute: Delia Shunt is Courage; Greta Herskovitz is Ambition; Paula Friedrich is Hope. Perhaps Miller fears that sentimentality will prevent her characters from being "bony, rough and true", but in taking a knife to the fat of emotions, she has left us a curiously lean dish. Although it makes some interesting insights, PERSONAL VELOCITY never quite gets up to speed.

Studio: MGM/UA
Director: Rebecca Miller
Cast: Fairuza Balk, Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey
Genre: Drama
Run time: 85 minutes
Theatrical release: December 6, 2002
DVD release: March 18, 2003
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: brief violence, some strong sexuality and language