NEW SG Interview: Whit Stillman – Damsels in Distress0

by Fred Topel

The ‘90s were a vital decade for independent film. That’s when unique voices discovered at the Sundance Film Festival started finding their way into movie theaters nationwide. It was the decade of Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and Ed Burns, filmmakers who emphasized the dialogue their characters would speak. One of the most respected artists of that era was Whit Stillman.

His debut film Metropolitan was a comedy about wealthy New Yorkers discussing their lifestyle with a stranger. His follow-up Barcelona took that sensibility to Spain. But 1998’s The Last Days of Disco was the last we’ve seen of Whit Stillman. He calls the 10 subsequent years his “lost decade,” a more highbrow way of saying “development hell.”

Stillman is back with a new movie. Damsels in Distress still has the unique dialogue found in ‘90s independent cinema, so it may seem even more special in today’s world. The film stars Greta Gerwig as Violet, a college student who leads a suicide prevention center. She and her fellow gals are so committed to helping the student body, she creates a new dance called the Sambola. She thinks if people dance they’ll be too happy to kill themselves.

The film is full of whimsical tangents and concepts. Some of the Seven Oaks college boys practice the Cathar religion, and some of the traffic lights are blue. Stillman took as mellow an approach to discussing the film as his characters seem to have living it. He had some deep thoughts but only in the spirit of having fun and not taking oneself too seriously.

Read our exclusive interview with Whit Stillman on SuicideGirls.com.