If I have anything resembling a life philosophy, it’s that you can never see Madonna walking down the street eating Cheez Doodles while wearing lace gloves too many times.Desperately Seeking Susan is a perfect encapsulation of a moment. The comic plot concerns a bored housewife who, thanks to a series of personal ads in the newspaper, becomes mixed up with a free-spirited young woman (guess who?). Oh, and there’s also amnesia and mistaken identity, of course. Downtown music icons like Richard Hell and John Lurie make appearances, and Madonna’s character is a spirited, natural hipster who seems to live a life solely devoted to bohemian fun—needless to say, this is a type hardly seen in New York anymore, and certainly not in Manhattan. Part of what makes the film so special is the point at which it came in Madonna’s career. Released shortly after her second album, Like a Virgin, came out, the movie captured lightning in a bottle. While not a natural actress, Madonna is still a true performer: You don’t make some of the most iconic music videos of all time without learning how to be totally and completely watchable onscreen. It’s easy to take Madonna’s stardom for granted today, but looking back at Desperately Seeking Susan, you see that she was truly destined for fame. Madonna’s onscreen career has been the subject of frequent mockery, but part of why Desperately Seeking Susan works so well is the fact that she’s basically playing herself. The movie is filled with what’s now trendily called “the female gaze.” Seidelman has an eye for girly ephemera, and Rosanna Arquette’s Roberta, the more buttoned-downed suburban housewife–turned–original Madonna wannabe, definitely has a girl crush on Madonna’s Susan. As the male love interest, Aidan Quinn is the ideal downtown guy, with a job as a film projectionist, a warehouselike apartment, and perfect bone structure. Madonna plays the kind of enviably confident New Yorker who gives no fucks. She dries her armpits with a public bathroom’s hand dryer. She walks the city streets in boxers and lace stockings. Such a manic pixie-dream girlish character could be annoying or cliché if played by someone else, but in Madonna’s embodiment, she overflows with charisma. Years before GIFs, Madonna’s every moment in the film feels like a master class in sassy gesturing. And her outfits! Well, if you don’t covet every single thing Madonna wears in this film, we probably won’t get along.
If you don’t covet every single thing Madonna wears in this film, we probably won’t get along.My Desperately Seeking Susan fandom, like any good obsession, feels personal. I grew up downtown (after Danceteria, the famous nightclub featured in the film, had already closed, alas) and shopped at Love Saves the Day, the arty store that plays a pivotal role onscreen. Love Saves the Day closed in 2008, and in a tragic turn of events, the whole building burned down in the 2015 East Village fire. Part of loving a New York movie is loving all the lost places it represents.