Desert Hearts [2 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

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

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Letterbox for TV
• 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

AWARDS

• Independent Spirit Awards

•     Nominated Best Actress - 1986 (Patricia Charbonneau)

• Sundance Film Festival

•     Won Special Jury Prize: Dramatic - 1985 (Donna Deitch)

• Telluride Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1985

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Helen Shaver - Vivian Bell
       Patricia Charbonneau - Cay Rivvers
       Audra Lindley - Frances Parker
       Andra Akers - Silver
       Dean Butler - Darell
       James Staley - Art Warner
       Jeffrey Tambor - Jerry
       Alex McArthur - Walter

• Director:

  Donna Deitch

• Producer:

  Donna Deitch

• Screenwriter:

  Natalie Cooper

• Book Author:

  Jane Rule

• Cinematographer:

  Robert Elswit

• Editor:

  Robert L. Estrin

• Production Designer:

  Jeannine Oppewall, David Brisbin

• Costume Designer:

  Linda M. Bass

REVIEW:

• 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