Damsels in Distress

Damsels in Distress (2012) is an American comedy directed by Whit Stillman, available to watch online on iFILM. Greta Gerwig plays Violet Wister, a college student utterly convinced that her grubby East Coast campus would collapse without her guidance. She and her friends Rose and Heather run an unofficial support group for depressed male students — their prescribed remedies include soap, tap-dancing, and donuts.

Transfer student Lily joins the circle. Around them orbit several young men with ridiculous names and matching pretensions, played by Adam Brody, Hugo Becker, and Billy Magnussen. Aubrey Plaza shows up in a small role. Romantic entanglements follow, friendships fray, and the whole campus microcosm drifts somewhere unexpected.

Stillman wrote dialogue that sounds like it belongs to a different century — the characters speak in complete, ornate sentences with complete, ornate certainty. That's the joke, and also the point. If that register clicks for you, this film is very funny. Stream Damsels in Distress (2012) online on iFILM.