Hello! After writing extensively about Stephanie Rothman's films last week, I was inspired to focus on female filmmakers. There are so many female filmmakers who have put their touch on sex and nudity on the big screen and it's possible you couldn't even tell the difference. Sure, only TWO women have won the Oscar for best director (isn't that sad?), but so many women have made wild and hot films that are worth celebrating. Let's start out with an 80s icon, Susan Seidelman.
Before we jump into Susan Seidelman's best-known film, Desperately Seeking Susan, I want to talk about where she came from. This Philly native originally studied art and fashion at Drexel University before taking a film appreciation class that introduced her to the French New Wave. This inspired her SO much that she switched her focus to film and ended up going for a master's in film at New York University (ever heard of it?) where she immersed herself in the Soho art scene of the day. That meant that this young, hungry female filmmaker was rubbing elbows with rising stars like, oh you know, MADONNA.
She instantly made waves as a student for winning a Student Academy Award nomination for her short film And You Act Like One Too about a housewife having a comical affair. Those themes and that kind of screwball comedy would come up again and again in Seidelman's work. In 1982, Susan made her debut film, Smithereens. Smithereens does not have nudity in it, but it is definitely worth watching. I think about the ending to that movie all of the time. Susan Berman stars as a punk rock groupie who wants to work as a promoter, but no one takes her seriously. It definitely does a good job of showing off the punky Lower East Side and Soho, something that Seidelman would continue to return to her in future films - including her next one!
Her follow-up to that film was Desperately Seeking Susan which was written by screenwriter Leora Barish. Fun fact: Leora was inspired to write this film after she watched the 70s French flick Celine and Julie Go Boating. She took some elements of that movie's plot along with her own interest in reading personal ads and wrote a script for desperately Seeking Susan. She got some interest from Warner Brothers initially (they ended up dropping out and Orion Pictures took over) which meant that they were given a real budget. Leora wanted Seidelman because Smithereens had a general vibe that she was going for. Susan asked Madonna to be in the movie and since Madonna was an amateur actress and rising popstar at the time, so she actually fit into the budget. This would be Madonna's first major movie and while she did have a few hit singles, she wasn't yet THE Madonna that we could soon come to know and love.
Here's a fun twist though: Madonna's "Like a Virgin" got released DURING the making of the movie, so all-of-a-sudden Madonna became THE It Girl. This made Susan and company excited for the film's release because they now had a good feeling about the movie's popularity. Madonna's co-star on the film, the actual star Rosanna Arquette, has since said that this drove her crazy because Madonna's filming schedule suddenly became unreliable and everything catered around her. They had to beef up security on set and Madonna now had the freedom to demand, er, express more of her real personality into the character including doing her own hair and makeup. Rosanna wound up getting sidelined during the film's release and was even awarded a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for her work in the film even though she was clearly the main character. That brings us to the plot! Rosanna plays Roberta, a New Jersey woman who feels bored in her life. She reads personal ads where she notices that one woman keeps placing ads for her lovers. She spies on that woman, Susan (Madonna), and thinks that the woman described sounds fascinating. She soon starts obsessing over her and gets inspired to get a jacket in a store that looks like something that Susan would wear. This catches the eye of a killer who is looking for Susan and he thinks that Roberta IS her! Hijinks and mystery ensue in this comedy about finding yourself, even if you are an adult woman.
Madonna does not go nude in the movie even though she oozes sexuality at every step. She DOES show off her nipples in her see-thru lace bra, but no nudity for the rising sex symbol. I guess when it came to nudity, she really was Like a Virgin! Rosanna, on the other hand, showed her breasts in two different scenes like the true leading lady that she is. In one scene, she takes a bath next to a photo of Susan and shows her breasts as she leans back into the water. If you were desperately seeking nudity, then this scene is for you!
The film did not end up being as big of a hit as they had hoped with all of the Madonna hype. It took in 30 million dollars and was criticized for meandering a bit (to be fair, the movie didn't know how to end itself and Seidelman shot several different endings including one where Roberta and Susan travel all the way to Egypt). Since the film's release, it has become more of a cult classic and it is definitely more beloved than her follow-up film, Making Mr. Right, which did not have any nudity in it (but you do get some pokies from Glenne Headly). She did turn heads with her 1989 screwball comedy She-Devil starring oddball pairings Rosanne Bar and Meryl Streep!
She-Devil features a couple who get split apart when the hubby falls for a romance novelist played by Meryl Streep. He tries to keep this affair a secret, but when Roseanne is your wife that is basically impossible to do. When Roseanne's character finds out, all hell breaks loose and she sets about destroying everything in her husband’s life. Interestingly, this was Meryl's first comedy role and she really wanted to do it because she felt that she was being typecast as a dramatic actress. She knew that she could do comedy and she wanted to prove it! She certainly did prove it...even if this film goes a bit off-the-rails. That said, Meryl DOES show off her breasts just briefly when she is on her back during a sex scene.
Shockingly, a few years after this film Seidelman directed a segment of sexy stories in 1994's Tales of Erotica which was a sort of erotic anthology film that featured evocative, trailblazing directors. She directed a segment alongside Ken Russell, Melvin Van Peebles, and Bob Rafelson. Now that's quite a lineup and that should tell you a lot about Seidelman's work. This serves to show how much the industry actually respected the subtle sexuality her stories all had and how good she was at directing strong female characters who find and use their sexual prowess. Her short story in the film is called The Dutch Master and it starred a young Mira Sorvino in her lingerie (there is more of that Madonna-inspired lace!) as well as totally topless nudity from Sasha Veldman.
Seidelman was back to showing her love of New York City when she wound up pivoting to television to direct the pilot of Sex and the City. She was the perfect person for this show! She could showcase her favorite place, New York City, and make a show in which women were brazenly talking about sex. After her adventures in The Dutch Master, it was clear that Susan had it in her to be much more sexually explicit than a few breast slips and Madonna's black lingerie. She directed several more episodes in the first season, leaving her mark on TV history. AS Susan said about her own work, "I like using humor as a way of making observations about how we live and what makes us human." And what's more human than sex? Am I right, Carrie Bradshaw?
Seidelman's work has calmed down since then, but there is no denying that Seidelman has her hands in everything sexy in shows and films that showcase New York City. She is definitely best known and celebrated for Desperately Seeking Susan, so let's end this article with a scene from the movie:
