In Bed With Madonna

Alex Keshishian, USA, 1991, 120 minutes

Filmed during the 1990 Blond Ambition world tour, In Bed With Madonna offers us a chance to glimpse the "behind the scenes" goings-on of one of the world's biggest (and certainly most ostentatious) superstars.

Alex Keshishian, apparently given unlimited access to his subject, follows Madonna from the dressing room to the stage, bypassing, on the way, her mother's grave, and an all too friendly relationship with an Evian bottle. Although Madonna obviously plays the principal part, the minor roles given to Beatty and Costner are particularly memorable. Costner, shown to humiliating effect in Madonna's dressing room, must truly regret his cameo appearance, but it does undoubtedly provide one of the highlights of the film.

Full of incident, the film is by turns amusing, shocking and entertaining. Documentaries, by their very nature, should inform, and although we will never know whether Keshishian has captured the "real" Madonna on film, In Bed With Madonna does at least give us the chance to see the woman in her element - she is, at heart, a performer, and this is the most prominent characteristic whi emerges from the film. Love her or loathe her, just don't call her neat.

Review by Malcolm Maclaren
Taken from EUFS Programme 1992-93