FREE THURSDAYS: Desert Hearts

1986, 96 minutes, 4k restoration
USA

Director: Donna Deitch

Cast: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Andra Akers & Gwen Welles

NOTE: FREE ADMISSION- NO TICKET PURCHASE REQUIRED

New 4k restoration of Deitch’s landmark LGBT film!

Donna Deitch’s swooning and sensual first film, Desert Hearts, was groundbreaking upon its 1986 release: a love story about two women, produced and directed by a woman. In the 1959-set film, an adaptation of a beloved novel by Jane Rule, straitlaced East Coast professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno to file for divorce, but winds up catching the eye of someone new, the younger free spirit Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), touching off a slow seduction that unfolds against the breathtaking desert landscape. With smoldering chemistry between its two leads, an evocative jukebox soundtrack, and vivid cinematography by Robert Elswit, Desert Hearts beautifully exudes a sense of tender yearning and emotional candor.