Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Donna Deitch’s tender, ground-breaking directorial debut is a landmark of queer cinema.
Before Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Carol, there was Desert Hearts! Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Donna Deitch’s tender, ground-breaking directorial debut is a landmark of queer cinema and a triumph of independent filmmaking. Based on Jane Rule’s novel, the film follows Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), an uptight professor who travels to Reno for divorce; her world is changed however when she is thrown into the orbit of Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), a confident, free-spirited younger woman. With luminous desert landscapes and Robert Elswit’s striking cinematography, Desert Hearts remains a radical classic of LGBTQ+ cinema.
Entirely self-financed and made with just $800,000, Desert Hearts broke new ground as one of the first American features to centre lesbian love without tragedy or sensationalism. 40 years later, the film is celebrated as both a cult classic and a landmark in queer cinema. The film has enduring power as an example of a sensual romance that remains as vital and radical today as it was upon release.
This film has been selected by Hope Bhargava a student from BA Creative Arts and Humanities.