Butler's Cinema Scene

Greta Gerwig (far right) and do-gooder posse

“DAMSELS IN DISTRESS”  My rating: C-  (Opening May 5 at the Glenwood at Red Bridge)

99 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

I have acquaintances who are big fans of Whit Stillman, who love his ultra-low-keyed comedies of modern manners (or perhaps it’s a lack of manners).

Sorry. I don’t get it.

I wasn’t that enthusiastic about Stillman’s best movie, his 1990 debut feature “Metropolitan.” But  I’m borderline hostile  when it comes to his fourth and latest film, the overly-mannered, criminally underpopulated “Damsels in Distress.”

Having heard about the setup for “Damsels…” I was actually looking forward to it. There’s some real potential here.

Set on the ivy-covered and vaguely run-down campus of Seven Oaks College, Stillman’s screenplay centers on a trio of terminally peppy and unabashedly preppy coeds. Their leader is the towering Violet (Greta Gerwig, memorable in “Greenberg”) who, like a Seven Sisters mutation of Jane Austen’s  Emma, has  devoted herself to improving the lives of her fellow students.

Whether or not they want their lives improved.

We learn about the mission of Violet and her botanically-named wingmen Heather and Rose (Carrie MacLemore, Megalyn Echikunwoke) through the experiences of Lily (Analeigh Tipton), a transfer student.

Lilly is approached by the busybody trio and, since there’s been a screwup in her student housing,  is invited to share their dorm quarters.

Welcome to the world according to Violet. Among other things, Violet advocates dating down, because hapless, semi-unattractive men are much more grateful. Violet and friends will help these losers realize their  potential. (One of the ladies’ peculiarities is an overreaction to male body odor, which leaves them gasping and retching.)

Violet’s nosy altruism extends to operating the campus suicide prevention center, where she has developed her own tap dancing therapy to combat depression. Coincidentally, she believes her life’s work will be complete when she has introduced a new dance craze to bring joy and physical activity to the beleaguered masses.

There’s really no plot here. Newcomer Lilly has flings with a couple of men. One, Charlie, is appropriated by Violet, though there’s so little emotional juice generated  that this betrayal is met with no more than a shrug. Lilly also has a liaison with an French fellow (I think that’s a French accent…hard to tell), who says  he is a Cathar (look it up) and that because of his faith’s attitude toward non-procreative sex he can engage only in anal intercourse.

You know, that could be a funny ruse for getting some back door action, but like just about everything else in “Damsels in Distress,” it falls flat.

At its best (which isn’t often) “Damsels in Distress” achieves a kind of Bertie Wooster/Jeeves absurdity with people adhering to arbitrary standards of behavior and flitting about with no true purpose.

Indeed, Seven Oaks College seems stuck in a time warp. Not only are there no cell phones or computers in sight, these college students apparently don’t even watch TV.

I wonder if Stillman is practicing his own brand of Brechtian alienation…it’s like he doesn’t want us to care about his characters.

Well, it works.

| Robert W. Butler