Desert Hearts

Dir. Donna Deitch · United States of America · English

Romance blooms between two women in 1950s Nevada in this queer classic

Our take by Jenna Gordon

Contemplative English literature professor Vivian leaves New York for Reno, Nevada, to facilitate her divorce from a lifeless marriage. There she meets Cay, a sculptor and free spirit living relatively uncloseted for the time. What starts as an inspiring friendship soon turns to attraction. It is partly the story of Vivian’s sexual awakening, partly a transformative love story persuasively depicted through earnest, unadorned dialogue and love scenes, and vulnerable performances. A heartfelt and tender romance, the scenes are delightfully set to a soundtrack of Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash singles and filmed over the expansive horizons of the Nevada desert.

What happens

While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed literature professor finds herself unexpectedly attracted by a carefree, spirited young woman named Cay.

What the critics said

Notable Critics

"The film deftly explores tensions in the traditional family, and in heterosexual relationships: life, it suggests, is full of positive alternatives, platonic, romantic and sexual."

— Sight & Sound Staff

"Helen Shaver, playing the lead, does a most commendable job as a character who starts by being all tied up inside, and ends up by melting and opening up to emotions she couldn't even conceive before."

— Variety Staff