Desert Hearts

Theatrical Release Date: 1986 04 04 (USA)

UPC: 754703762832

Studio: Wolfe Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Director Donna Deitch makes a strong impression in her first feature film, a simple story of a lesbian love affair, based on Jane Rule's 1964 novel Desert of the Heart. Helen Shaver stars as Vivian Bell, an uptight 35-year-old Columbia University professor who travels to Reno to get a divorce. She arrives in Reno on her way to Frances Parker's (Audra Lindley) ranch, where she is staying to establish six weeks of residency in order to obtain the divorce. Once at the ranch, Vivian catches the fancy of Frances's adopted daughter Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), a casino worker ten years younger than herself. Vivien tries to remain unruffled as Cay makes unabashed overtures to her. Cay thinks that all Vivian needs is the love of another woman, and soon enough the two are in each other's arms. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Actress – Independent Spirit Awards Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Special Jury Prize: Dramatic – Sundance Film Festival

Features: Never before seen footage of the famous love scene
New director's commentary
Interview with Patricia Charbonneau and Helen Shaver by director Donna Deitch
Slide show
Theatrical trailer
2 disc set
Closed captioning
16:9 letterbox
Dolby 2.0

Desert Hearts

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 06/05/2007

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 94 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Desert Hearts
1. Chapter 1 [4:14]
2. Chapter 2 [3:52]
3. Chapter 3 [6:10]
4. Chapter 4 [4:52]
5. Chapter 5 [5:20]
6. Chapter 6 [5:52]
7. Chapter 7 [2:48]
8. Chapter 8 [7:03]
9. Chapter 9 [11:30]
10. Chapter 10 [8:41]
11. Chapter 11 [2:01]
12. Chapter 12 [12:43]
13. Chapter 13 [5:06]
14. Chapter 14 [4:59]
15. Chapter 15 [2:31]
16. Chapter 16 [3:13]

Michael Costello

Donna Deitch's debut film is the modest, appealing story of a romance between two seemingly mismatched women. Helen Shaver plays a university professor in her mid-thirties who becomes involved with a younger woman (Patrice Charbonneau) while staying in Reno for a divorce during the 1950s. Whether straight or gay, man or woman, the story of an uptight character letting go is so innately compelling that it's long been a staple of motion pictures. By setting her love story in such an unusual time and place, and shooting in relaxed master scenes, Deitch heightens the sense of the forbidden radiating from the intense, but slow-burning attraction of the two women. Given the mores of the time, the reluctance of Shaver's professor to be drawn into a new world of sexuality is completely believable, and typically, it's her character's resistance that makes the final scenes of lovemaking so hot. However, both characters are thinly written, with neither Shaver's long marriage or Charbonneau's existence as a gay woman in an unforgiving American West much explored. Still, both actresses give splendid performances, subtly expressing a passion the script only implies. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Alex McArthur  Actor 
Tom Martin  Actor 
Denise Crosby  Actor 
Tyler Tyhurst  Actor 
Antony Ponzini  Actor 
Donna Deitch  Actor 
Natalie Cooper  Screenwriter 
Donna Deitch  Director 
Donna Deitch  Producer 
Helen Shaver  Actor 
Patricia Charbonneau  Actor 
Audra Lindley  Actor 
Andra Akers  Actor 
Gwen Welles  Actor 
Dean Butler  Actor 
Katie La Bourdette  Actor 
James Staley  Actor 
Jeffrey Tambor  Actor 

Country: Canada,USA