The long awaited return by Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco), Damsels in Distress is a wilfully whimsical delight. Post mumblecore Greta Gerwig is Violet, the self appointed leader of a group of preppy girlfriends at Seven Oaks College, where the students are a mix of underachieving rich kids and dim jocks. Dedicated to making the college a pleasant and more fragrant place, the girl-friends are on a mission to combat student depression through a combination of good hygiene, free doughnuts and tap dance routines. They also find time to become romantically entangled with a string of mostly hopeless men, aka their 'distress'. With a zingy visual style and a breezy, screwball feel, this is a film that shows Stillman at his crackling best, peppered as it is with sharp, eminently quotable dialogue and priceless comic conceits.

Sandra Hebron