Damsels in Distress

Damsels in Distress follows Violet, Rose and Heather, three students at an East Coast university who set out to change campus life. Confident and slightly eccentric, they run a suicide prevention centre where they offer depressed classmates advice on hygiene, fashion and dance routines, believing these simple remedies can lift a person out of despair. When Lily transfers to the school, she is drawn into their circle, and the group's tidy theories are tested as the three women become involved with various men, including Charlie, Xavier and the unruly pair Frank and Thor. These entanglements strain both their friendship and their emotional equilibrium.

Whit Stillman wrote and directed the film, his first feature since The Last Days of Disco in 1998 and the third of the four features he has directed, ahead of Love & Friendship in 2016. Greta Gerwig plays Violet, with Lio Tipton as Lily, Megalyn Echikunwoke as Rose and Carrie MacLemore as Heather. Ryan Metcalf and Jermaine Crawford also appear. The production was handled by Westerly Films and Steeplechase-Analytic Productions, with Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer and Stillman producing.

Released in April 2012, the film took in roughly one million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.8 from around 10,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.5 from just over 200 votes. A critics' rating of 6.7 from 142 reviews places it noticeably above those audience scores.