Writer-director Witt Stillman returns with ‘Damsels in Distress’

It’s been nearly 15 years since his last feature, but the influence of writer-director Whit Stillman, the indie auteur who assayed the social and emotional mores of an urban haute bourgeoisie with his films “Metropolitan,” “Barcelona” and “The Last Days of Disco,” has only grown, his talky nuance and spiky affection becoming more resonant with time.

Which makes the new “Damsels in Distress” both such a welcome return and somewhat of an unexpected departure. Pitched as something of an old-fashioned campus comedy, the film, set to open in March, follows a group of coeds led by the determined Violet (Greta Gerwig) as they take in a new girl (Analeigh Tipton). As complications compound, they grapple with romantic problems, suicide prevention techniques and how to start an international dance craze.

The tone of the film is sincere and a touch silly at the same time. It speaks to the confident singularity of Stillman’s voice that he ends the film with (spoiler alert!) not one but two musical dance numbers.

“I think it’s very related to the other films, even if it’s something different,” said Stillman at last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival. “I think the other three films really are kind of a piece and this one has a different element.

“What I feel slightly is that in the last scene in ‘Last Days of Disco,’ Chloë [Sevigny] and Matt Keeslar start dancing in the subway car and everyone is dancing on the platform. So at the end of ‘Last Days of Disco,’ we leave reality in a certain way and that in a way is setting up the film. In this film we’ve left reality a bit.”

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