PERSONAL BEST (1982) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Robert Towne
Mariel Hemingway, Scott Glenn, Patrice Donnelly,
Kenny Moore, Jim Moody, Kari Gosswiller
A lesbian love story set in the world of track and field, with Hemingway and Donnelly as athletes who become romantically involved while training for the Olympic pentathlon. Towne has a voyeur's appreciation for the bodies of female athletes, and a cameraman (Michael Chapman) who knows just how to capture the grace and beauty he sees in them. But exploitation isn't the point. The script plays on the unmovielike notion that young people aren't always glib and articulate. They're more likely to be confused and awkward and unsure of themselves, and Hemingway and Donnelly play into that nicely. On its own terms, "Personal Best" is a daring piece of work. Like its lead characters and the women who play them, it's real to the exact extent that it risks total embarrassment.
Robert Towne
(1934-2024)
