Desperately Seeking Susan

media release: USA | 1985 | 35mm | 104 min.

Director: Susan Seidelman

Cast: Rosanna Arquette, Madonna, Aidan Quinn

Roberta (Arquette), the bored wife of a NJ hot tub salesman, becomes infatuated with young couple Susan (Madonna) and Jimmy (Robert Joy), whom she discovers through a newspaper personals section. Bopped on the head, Roberta wakes up thinking she is the headstrong and hedonistic Susan. A full persona swap takes place when Roberta’s husband hires the real Susan to find his missing wife! “What might have been a conventional Hollywood farce about amnesia and switched identities has been given razzle-dazzle treatment by independent NY director Seidelman…delightful” (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic). 35mm print courtesy of Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research.

Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions.

At the Chazen: Recent WCFTR Acquisitions

January through April, our monthly series of screenings at the Chazen Museum of Art will put a spotlight on new 35mm prints of hit movies recently acquired by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research’s collection. First up, get into the groove of Madonna and Rosanna Arquette in Susan Seidelman’s 80s identity swap comedy, Desperately Seeking Susan. Plus, Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple; Dick and Liz in Mike Nichols’ movie of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; and George Clooney as the title character in the celebrated legal thriller, Michael Clayton. Funding for this series provided by the Anonymous Foundation at UW-Madison.