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Many people think writer-director Todd Solondz’s films are about outcasts and the heartbreaking things people do to them. They’re not, and they wouldn’t be so good if they were. 

Like his previous films “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and “Happiness,” Solondz’s “Storytelling” looks unsentimentally at the heartbreaking things outcasts do to themselves. It’s better by far than “Happiness” or “Dollhouse,” both of which were remarkable. 

Divided into two parts called “Fiction” and “Nonfiction,” “Storytelling” is rich with exquisite and sad details, from the gorgeous Belle and Sebastian songs that begin and end the film to the slurpy throat-clearing actor Leo Fitzpatrick uses to convey the pain cerebral palsy brings to his character, Marcus. 

“Fiction” focuses on a creative writing class at a third-rate college in the early days of political correctness. It’s taught by Mr. Scott (Robert Wisdom), a black author whose Pulitzer Prize isn’t enough to get him a better job. 

Full of resentment, his only release is tormenting students, as he does when Marcus writes a story about a girl who helps his protagonist overcome cerebral palsy. Mr. Scott doesn’t spare Marcus’ feelings. 

“You ride on a wave of cliches so wan it almost approaches the level of grotesquerie,” he says, in one of his mellower critical pronouncements. 

The students, especially Vi (Selma Blair), are too taken with their teacher’s talent — and his race — to call him on his cruelty. 

Vi, who wanders around campus in T-shirts saying “Biko Lives” and “USA for Africa,” fights the urge to think anything bad about her professor when she finds pictures of tied-up coeds in his apartment. 

“Don’t be racist! Don’t be racist! Don’t be racist!” she tells herself. 

Desperate to avoid doing anything Mr. Scott or Marcus might find condescending, she does nothing at all. Looking pathetically for Mr. Scott’s approval, she consents to have sex with him while screaming a racial slur he tells her to use. 

To avoid an NC-17 rating, Solondz agreed to insert a large red rectangle over parts of the scene. Rather than distracting us, as might be expected, it adds to the sense of shame and exploitation. 

Only 30 minutes long, “Fiction” has the directness and shock value of a great punk song. 

Fine acting and intelligent touches also abound in “Nonfiction,” which begins with an uncomfortable but very funny what-if scenario: What would it be like to call a former high school classmate whose yearbook entries still beckon, “Keep in touch!” or “I will always love you!” 

“Nonfiction” begins with Toby (Paul Giamatti) giving in to the sentiments that better-adjusted people dismiss, phoning a girl who had a crush on him. He pitifully reveals to her that he’s failed at everything he’s attempted since his promising high school years. 

He tries to recapture his past glory by making a documentary, and finds a subject in Scooby, a New Jersey stoner he discovers lighting up in a school restroom. 

Toby tells administrators and Scooby’s parents (John Goodman and Julie Hagerty) that he wants to focus on Scooby’s decisions about college. But Toby also thinks he can milk a few laughs by mocking Scooby and his dream of hosting a talk show. 

To make a film ridiculing Scooby’s life, he has to win his trust. 

Mark Webber does a skillful job of making the taciturn and often intoxicated Scooby into the film’s most sympathetic character. Solondz, like Toby, walks a fine line between portraying Scooby’s family sympathetically and sarcastically — until he eventually makes them out to be an awful bunch. 

Several misfortunes fall their way, the worst of which involves their housekeeper Consuelo (Lupe Ontiveros). In countless stupid movies, housekeepers are played for laughs. But Consuelo’s life is hard, not funny, and the last laugh is hers. 

You know a movie’s going to be jarring when it has a cameo by Conan O’Brien, one of the funniest people alive, and he’s self-consciously unamusing. 

But “Storytelling” doesn’t just shoot down expectations for the sake of shaking up its audience — it has thoughtful and important things to say about exploitation, condescension, and telling stories both honestly and otherwise. 

And complicated as its characters and structure may be, “Storytelling” couldn’t be more honest. 

“Storytelling,” a Fine Line Features release, is rated R for strong sexual content, language and some drug use. Running time: 87 minutes. 

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Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions: 

G — General audiences. All ages admitted. 

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. 

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children. 

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. 

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.