Damsels in Distress | |
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Directed by | Whit Stillman |
Written by | Whit Stillman |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Doug Emmett |
Edited by | Andrew Hafitz |
Music by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
Release dates |
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Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3 million [2] |
Box office | $1.3 million [3] |
Damsels in Distress is a 2011 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman and starring Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, and Lio Tipton. [lower-alpha 1] It is set at a United States East Coast university. First screened at the 68th Venice International Film Festival [4] and the Toronto International Film Festival, [5] it opened in New York and Los Angeles on April 6, 2012.
Newly transferred college student Lily becomes friends with Violet, Heather and Rose, a clique who run the campus' suicide prevention center. They date less attractive men to help the men's confidence; they try to clean up the "unhygenic" Doar Dorm; they clash with the editor of the campus newspaper, The Daily Complainer, who wants to close down the "elitist" fraternities; and they try to start a new dance craze, The Sambola!
Damsels in Distress was Stillman's first produced feature since The Last Days of Disco (1998). In August 1998, he had moved from New York to Paris with his wife and two daughters. In that time, he wrote a novelization of The Last Days of Disco, in addition to several original film scripts which were not made, including one set in Jamaica in the 1960s. He resolved to make a lower-budgeted film in the style of his debut, Metropolitan (1990). In 2006, he met with Liz Glotzer and Mart Shafer at Castle Rock Entertainment, who had financed his second and third films. According to Shafer:
Whit said, 'I want to write a movie about four girls in a dorm who are trying to keep things civil in an uncivil world.' It took him a year to write 23 pages. Six months later, a few more dribbled in. He just doesn't work very fast. Finally we had a draft. When we started production he said, 'I think 12 years is the right amount of time between movies.' [6]
Castle Rock provided most of the $3 million budget. [6]
The movie was filmed on location in New York City on Staten Island at the Sailors' Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Filming finished on November 5, 2010. [6]
Stillman has said that the film was cut between its festival and theatrical runs:
I felt the MPAA helped us out there. I'd hoped to get a PG-13 even with the Venice cut, but in the first viewing they thought it was R. So we looked at it, the editor [Andrew Hafitz] and I, and we saw immediately some things that would make it pretty clearly PG-13, and we felt would help the movie. There could've been a little heaviness of talking a little too much about what was going on, and it would delay the laugh until later – which I think is always good. We were really happy with the small changes we made. We made tiny changes in two scenes: we took out the text for what the ALA stood for... I think it gave it a Lubitschean vagueness and delayed the laugh. [7]
The film features an original score by Mark Suozzo. The song "Sambola!" is written by Suozzo, Michael A. Levine, and Lou Christie. [8]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on reviews from 143 critics. The website's critics consensus reads, "Damsels in Distress can sometimes feel mannered and outlandish, but it's redeemed by director Whit Stillman's oddball cleverness and Greta Gerwig's dryly funny performance." [9] On Metacritic, it has a score of 67% based on reviews from 33 critics. [10]
In Variety , Leslie Felperin wrote, "a film that raises laughs even with its end credits, Whit Stillman's whimsical campus comedy Damsels in Distress is an utter delight." [11] In Time , critic Richard Corliss wrote, "Innocence deserted teen movies ages ago, but it makes a comeback, revived and romanticized, in this joyous anachronism." [12] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon praised Gerwig's "powerful and complicated performance" and said that "it's both a relief and a delight to discover that Stillman remains one of the funniest writers in captivity." He concluded, "I laughed until I cried, and you may too (if you don't find it pointless and teeth-grindingly irritating). Either way, Whit Stillman is back at last, bringing his peculiar brand of counterprogramming refreshment to our jaded age." [13] Jordan Hoffman of About.com gave the film four stars out of five, calling Gerwig "a massive, multi-faceted talent" and the film a "love it or hate it movie. Personally, I think the ones who aren't charmed to pieces by its endless banter and preposterous characters very much need our help to expand their tastes and accept a more enlightened purview of what, indeed, is refined and acceptable motion picture entertainment." [14]
John Whitney Stillman is an American writer-director and actor known for his 1990 film Metropolitan, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He is also known for his other films, Barcelona (1994), The Last Days of Disco (1998), Damsels in Distress (2011), as well as his most recent film, Love & Friendship, released in 2016.
Noah Baumbach is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for making comedies set in New York City, and his works are inspired by writer-directors such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. His frequent collaborators include Wes Anderson, Adam Driver, and Greta Gerwig.
Richard Nelson Corliss was an American film critic and magazine editor for Time. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects.
The Last Days of Disco is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman, and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. Starring Chloë Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale, the film follows a group of Ivy League and Hampshire College graduates falling in and out of love in the disco scene of New York City in the early 1980s.
Cecil Taylor Nichols is an American actor, known for his roles in several films by Whit Stillman including major roles in Metropolitan (1990) and Barcelona (1994), as well as his role in the regular cast of the television series PEN15 (2019–2021).
Greta Celeste Gerwig is an American actress, writer, and director. Initially known for working on mumblecore films, she has since expanded from acting in and co-writing independent films to directing major studio films. Gerwig was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2018.
Nights and Weekends is a 2008 American mumblecore film written, directed, co-produced by and starring Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig. The film follows a long-distance relationship and its aftermath.
Northern Comfort is a 2010 American improvisational film starring Rod Webber and Greta Gerwig. Shot in three days for three thousand dollars, the film is the second of Webber's films based on a manifesto which has been likened to DIY Dogme films which use limited equipment and other resources in an attempt to create an atmosphere of realism not present in most traditional schools of film-making. The Boston Globe’s Ty Burr called it "DIY Dogme dedicated to Webber’s guiding maxim: 'The movie already exists, it’s just waiting to be found.’" During an interview for Gerwig's Greenberg starring Ben Stiller she was asked whether she'd be doing more films for $3000 and replied, "[Laughs] Maybe not $3,000 budgets but maybe $50,000 budgets. I'm interested in making low-budget films not for the sake of making low-budget films but because a lot of filmmakers that I want to work with and that I like are working on a smaller scale."
The 68th annual Venice International Film Festival was held in Venice, Italy between 31 August and 10 September 2011. American film director Darren Aronofsky was announced as the Head of the Jury. American actor and film director Al Pacino was presented with the Glory to the Film-maker award on 4 September, prior to the premiere of his upcoming film Wilde Salomé. Marco Bellocchio was awarded with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in September. The festival opened with the American film The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney, and closed with Damsels in Distress by Whit Stillman.
Frances Ha is a 2012 American black-and-white comedy-drama film directed by Noah Baumbach. It is written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, who also stars as Frances Halladay, a struggling 27-year-old dancer. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2012, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 17, 2013, by IFC Films.
Two Night Stand is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Max Nichols, written by Mark Hammer, and starring Miles Teller, Lio Tipton, Jessica Szohr, Leven Rambin, and Scott Mescudi.
Caitlin FitzGerald is an American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her roles as Libby Masters in the Showtime drama Masters of Sex (2013–2016) and Simone in Starz series Sweetbitter (2018–2019).
Love & Friendship is a 2016 period comedy film written and directed by Whit Stillman. Based on Jane Austen's epistolary novel Lady Susan, written c. 1794, the film stars Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, and Emma Greenwell. The film follows recently widowed Lady Susan in her intrepid and calculating exploits to secure suitably wealthy husbands for her daughter and herself. Although adapted from Lady Susan, the film was produced under the borrowed title of Austen's juvenile story Love and Freindship.
20th Century Women is a 2016 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Mills and starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann, and Billy Crudup. It is set in 1979 in Southern California and partly inspired by Mills's childhood.
Lady Bird is a 2017 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwig in her solo directorial debut. Set in Sacramento, California from fall 2002 to fall 2003, the film tells the story of a high school senior and her strained relationship with her mother. It stars Saoirse Ronan in the title role with Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith in supporting roles.
The 37th London Film Critics' Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2016, were announced by the London Film Critics' Circle on 22 January 2017.
Little Women is a 2019 American coming-of-age period drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwig. It is the seventh film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott. It chronicles the lives of the March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—in Concord, Massachusetts, during the 19th century. It stars an ensemble cast consisting of Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Chris Cooper.
White Noise is a 2022 absurdist comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach, adapted from the 1985 novel with the same title by Don DeLillo. It is Baumbach's first directed feature not to be based on an original story of his own. The film stars Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, and Don Cheadle. Set in the 1980s, the story follows the life of a niche academic and his family as they go through trials and tribulations, beginning with an environmental disaster near their home.
Barbie is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with Noah Baumbach. Based on the eponymous fashion dolls by Mattel, it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated films and specials. The film stars Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and follows the pair on a journey of self-discovery following an existential crisis. The supporting cast includes America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell.
Little Women: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the score album composed by Alexandre Desplat for the 2019 American film Little Women. A seventh film adaptation of the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott, the film is directed by Greta Gerwig, and stars an ensemble cast consisting of Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Chris Cooper. The original score album was released by Sony Music on December 13, 2019.