The Dutch Master

American filmmaker Susan Seidelman majored in art and fashion design at Drexel University. She worked at an independent TV station in Philadelphia before enrolling at NYU’s film school. Her feminist-oriented student films, made between 1976 and 1977, won several awards and plenty of industry attention. Seidelman’s first feature, the independently produced Smithereens (1983), made very little headway in mainstream theaters, but was a hit on the festival circuit. On the strength of Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Seidelman was lauded as one of Hollywood’s few “bankable” female directors; the film’s success was probably due more to the supporting performance of Madonna than to its director. Seidelman’s next two films, Making Mr Right (1987) and Cookie (1989), failed to match the standard set by Desperately Seeking Susan. In 1989’s She-Devil, Seidelman attempted to do for Roseanne Barr what she had done for Madonna — – that is, transform Roseanne into a viable film personality. But She Devil did nothing for anyone, least of all Susan Seidelman, whose much-vaunted bankability was injured. —allmovie guide