Movie Explainer: What is Damsels in Distress about?

This book is the opposite of

a Whit Stillman movie

“No soap, radio!”
•trad.

Of all the movies I’ve ever loved, the one I’ve had the hardest time figuring out is Damsels in Distress (2011). L’Age d’Or (1930) and The American Astronaut (2001) are too oneiric to approach rationally; Lost Highway (1997) and Primer (2004) dutifully click into place after you stop and think about them; 2001 (1968) is…less obscure than people claim it is. But Damsels in Distress does not give up its secrets easily.

I starte...