Damsels in Distress

A curious comedy is set at an East Coast university that started to admit women just a short time ago. A group of girls, led by Violet and her friends, Rose and Heather, set out to change the masculine environment. Their aim, however, is even more original than their leader herself: They simultaneously want to “improve” the men who feel overlooked, shy, and in need of an ego-boost. The girls take a new student, Lily, under their wings, whom they advise what to wear, who to date, and, how to work at the campus suicide center. Whit Stillman, the director of several famous independent films of 1990s (Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco) enters the genre of a chick flick, providing it with almost surreal charm. (Febiofest)