Desert Hearts
by Donna Deitch
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andra Akers, Audra Lindley, Dean Butler, Helen Shaver, Patricia CharbonneauDirector: Donna Deitch
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit
Producer: Donna Deitch
Editor: Robert Estrin
Producer: Cami Taylor
Producer: Carol Jefferies
Writer: Jane Rule
Writer: Natalie Cooper
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
Published: 2001-01-01
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Desert Hearts
Movie Review: TWENTY YEARS LATER
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie in a theater when it first
came out.Does it stand the test of time?YES!
Why,after 20 yrs.is this movie still on every
lesbians top ten list of favourites?
Here's my opinion.First and formost it is the
director Donna Deitch.Her choice of the music
to play in the background brings home with a punch
the time period for this movie.Listening to greats
like Patsy Cline,Patti Page,Johnny Raye,and Ella
Fitzgerald etc.,automatically takes the viewer back
in time.
Ms.Deitch was also smart enough to select very
attractive women who could act as her lead characters.
Thirdly,Ms.Deitch paced the movie in such a way that
it made you want to find out more about these people.
Helen Shaver plays the uptight straight college prof.
to a tee. ( I've met women like this and Ms. Shaver's
deft performance nails it).To see her slowly become
unwound and unglued because her unrealized sexuality
begins to bloom,is a real treat.
Patricia Charbonneau as the young lesbian at odds
with the world is also a very realistic performance.
What I liked about this character is that she doesn't
just go and hit on the prof.Instead,she yearns from afar
and slowly begins to realize that the prof.may be "THE ONE".
One would have thought that if they could make a movie like
this way back when,then the next 20 yrs.should be filled
with great lesbian movies. NOT !!!
More recently we have had to put up with [...] like Go Fish.
Back then,Desert Hearts was like a beacon in the night.
Why? Because we were supposed to be entertained by movies
that depicted us ALL as being devaststaingly unhappy,
suicidal,and morally bankrupt etc.In these movies we were
either committing suicide or turning straight.The latter
of course meant that we would then live happily ever after
heterosexual lives.If you want to see examples of what I
am talking about,rent The Childrens Hour,The Killing of
Sister George or The boys in the Band.
Yes we have come a long way baby,but surely there is a
director out there who can make a dramatic lesbian movie
that is sensitive,realistic,sensual and at least as good
as Desert Hearts.
Just My Opinion
P.S.I did enjoy Bound,French Twist,Bar Girls and Wild Side
to name a few.
Summary of Desert Hearts
When college professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno in 1959 to get a quickie divorce, the last thing on her mind is romance. A prim intellectual, crippled by a sterile marriage ("We're a professional couple") and hiding behind her education, she moves into a ranch belonging to Frances Parker (Audra Lindley) and tries to keep to herself. But Parker's beautiful, sassy tomboy of a stepdaughter proves to be quite a distraction, and a love affair slowly blossoms. Cay (Patricia Charbonneau) refuses to be bound by convention or by expectations of how a nice girl should behave, and her devil-may-care attitude both attracts and terrifies the nervous professor. \n Shaver is terrific as Vivian, and the slow thawing of her character is beautifully paced--you can feel the tension break when she finally lets down her guard. Another strong performance comes from Audra Lindley as Frances. She's a tough old bird with a drinking problem, but Lindley keeps the character from descending into stereotype, and she gives full rein to the tragic side of this lonely woman, especially as she struggles with her reaction to the developing relationship between Cay and Vivian. \n There are scenes in "Desert Hearts" that would be painfully clich?©d if they appeared in a heterosexual romance, and even here they only just escape that fate--relying a little too much on significant glances and lines that just don't sound like real conversation. Nevertheless, first-time director Deitch breathes new life into a standard straight-arrow-meets-free-spirit plot, and steadfastly refuses to turn this love story into an "issues movie." Add to that a strong feel for the period and a soundtrack filled with the likes of Patsy Cline and Gene Vincent, and the result is a warm, well-acted film that packs a real emotional punch. "--Simon Leake"When college professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno in 1959 to get a quickie divorce, the last thing on her mind is romance. A prim intellectual, crippled by a sterile marriage ("We're a professional couple") and hiding behind her education, she moves into a ranch belonging to Frances Parker (Audra Lindley) and tries to keep to herself. But Parker's beautiful, sassy tomboy of a stepdaughter proves to be quite a distraction, and a love affair slowly blossoms. Cay (Patricia Charbonneau) refuses to be bound by convention or by expectations of how a nice girl should behave, and her devil-may-care attitude both attracts and terrifies the nervous professor.
Shaver is terrific as Vivian, and the slow thawing of her character is beautifully paced--you can feel the tension break when she finally lets down her guard. Another strong performance comes from Audra Lindley as Frances. She's a tough old bird with a drinking problem, but Lindley keeps the character from descending into stereotype, and she gives full rein to the tragic side of this lonely woman, especially as she struggles with her reaction to the developing relationship between Cay and Vivian.
There are scenes in Desert Hearts that would be painfully clichéd if they appeared in a heterosexual romance, and even here they only just escape that fate--relying a little too much on significant glances and lines that just don't sound like real conversation. Nevertheless, first-time director Deitch breathes new life into a standard straight-arrow-meets-free-spirit plot, and steadfastly refuses to turn this love story into an "issues movie." Add to that a strong feel for the period and a soundtrack filled with the likes of Patsy Cline and Gene Vincent, and the result is a warm, well-acted film that packs a real emotional punch. --Simon Leake
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