“Desert Hearts” is returning to the big screen for its 30th anniversary. New York City’s Museum of Modern Art will will screen Donna Deitch’s influential LGBTQ film from December 2-8.
Based on Jane Rule’s 1964 novel of the same name, “Desert Hearts” centers on “Columbia University professor Vivian Bell, [who] takes a train to Reno, Nevada, seeking a divorce,” a summary from the MoMA reads. “It is the 1950s, and getting a divorce not only means uprooting your entire existence, but also uprooting yourself in order to file one! Vivian lodges at a local ranch, where other would-be divorcées cool their heels awaiting judicial processing. When Vivian meets Cay, a down-to-earth local, she feels a spark, but isn’t quite sure why. So much of this journey — the desert landscape, the country music — is all very alien to a former East Coast academic. Cay, on the other hand, is instantly in love.”
The film stars Helen Shaver (“Poltergeist: The Legacy”) and Patricia Charbonneau (“Manhunter”), and was written by Natalie Cooper.
While representations of LGBTQ characters are — at long last — becoming increasingly common in films and television series, at the time it was released, “Desert Hearts” offered audiences a rare opportunity to see an attraction between women play out onscreen.
In a 2015 interview, Deitch was asked about the climate of the 1980s for LGBT people, and what it was like making “Desert Hearts” during that period.
“First of all it was very, very difficult with regards to the casting,” the director recalled. “Because casting agents really advised clients not to come in and read for any of the parts. Not just for those two characters who became lovers, but for any of the parts in the film.” She explained, “It was hugely controversial and the word was that if you were even in this film, in any of the parts, it would just be destructive to your career.”
Deitch will be present for a number of MoMA’s screenings. Oprah Winfrey saw “Desert Hearts” shortly after its release and hired Donna to direct the 4 hour miniseries “The Women of Brewster Place” launching Donna’s career as an Emmy winning Director in television with credits including HBO and Showtime movies and multiple episodes of TV drama from “NYPD Blue” to “Grey’s Anatomy.”
She is currently working on a “Desert Hearts” sequel and a film from the true crime memoir “Strange Piece of Paradise” by Terri Jentz
For more information, visit MoMA’s website.
