Dir: Donna Deitch
Cast: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley

In a rare screening on a new print, this 1950s set love story remains one of the most sensual and beautifully shot lesbian films of all time and will be introduced by the BFI’s Head Librarian, Emma Smart.

Donna Deitch’s luscious romantic drama follows the uptight professor Vivian (Helen Shaver) who arrives in Reno, Nevada in 1959 to legalise her divorce. There she meets the free-spirited Cay (Patricia Charbonneau) who works in the casinos where she fends off the advances of men and seduces women.

Based on the Jane Rule novel Desert of the Heart and drawing on campy tropes from mid-century lesbian pulp novels, Donna Deitch’s pioneering film was the first to grant its lesbians a happy ending. Nearly forty years later, Desert Hearts remains a beloved gem of queer filmmaking.

Shot beautifully by cinematographer Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood) and accompanied by a nostalgic jukebox soundtrack, Desert Hearts is a must-see landmark in lesbian cinema.

Images Courtesy of Park Circus/Janus Films

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