Star rating – 8/10
Director
Whit Stillman has not made a film since
1998’s The Last Days of Disco, and dancing again features prominently is his extremely
funny campus tale Damsels in Distress.
It’s quirky and very charming, even if it doesn’t exactly keep its momentum going
entirely throughout.
It
is refreshingly not full of Hollywood A listers, the cast brilliantly led by
Greta Gerwig as Violet, who organises a small group of American college girls into
trying to save potentially suicidal fellow students. The young women who gather
around her are acerbically
judgemental, as they set out to attract boys who are not good looking or cool. The
action seems to be set in present day, but there are oddly no sign of any
social networking going on.
And
there are some very, very funny scenes, particularly one involving doughnuts. As
the film unwinds, it becomes obvious that Violet is fundamentally unhappy and
as damaged as she thinks the people she is trying to help are. Stillman manages
to create characters who are both comedic and repellent , and with whom his
audience can’t help but empathise with too.
The
dancing is fabulous, and is becoming a Stillman trademark feature. This is an
uplifting oddity of a film which is a delight to watch.
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