Whit Stillman will attend the screening
Writer/director Whit Stillman made three of the most resonant American independent films of the nineties: Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco. With Damsels in Distress, he adds to his personal canon with a film that is distinctly offbeat, even manic, and yet retains his precise wit and refined dialogue - all executed with vintage Stillman aplomb. His latest film takes a unique look into the psyche of privileged American youth, this time focusing on a group of undergraduates at a leafy East Coast university. The film stars Greta Gerwig as Violet. Prim, proper and extremely odd, Violet is alpha to a trio of attractive girls who’ve vowed to improve anyone they deem in need. When the girls spot a new transfer student named Lily (Analeigh Tipton), they take her under their wing and show her what to wear, who to date and how to help prevent campus suicides (solution: tap-dancing, free doughnuts and good hygiene). However, when Violet is betrayed by her beau and begins to pine for Lily’s new flame (Adam Brody), her orderly world starts to crumble. A heady yet deceptively light take on the all-girl clique subgenre best exemplified by Heathers and Clueless, Stillman takes that beloved formula to new, often-surreal heights. Neatly divided into chapters, Damsels in Distress is funny, tragic and delightfully weird all at the same time. Better still: it contains several dance numbers. - Cameron Bailey, Toronto International Film Festival
