From the Archives: Saluting the 1st Lesbian Happily-Ever-After

Donna Deitch’s ‘Desert Hearts’ + Big Gay Party pictures ✨

The Yearning Rating: ✰✰✰✰

• Romance: ✰✰✰✰✰

• Sex: ✰✰✰✰

• Storytelling: ✰✰✰

• Performance: ✰✰✰1/2

• Yearning: ✰✰✰✰✰

Stick around after the review for a recap of the BIG GAY PARTY and a link to official pictures from the event, courtesy of the incredible Alyssa Lester.

Written by Ali Romig

Sometime in the early days of the pandemic, I decided it was time for me to watch my way through queer cinematic history (a passion project that would later become a source of inspiration for this newsletter). The exercise was mostly joyous, but anyone familiar with the canon knows it was also at times painful. Movies like The Children’s Hour, Aimee & Jaguar, Lost and Delirious, and so many more left me more heartbroken than swooning. So when I sat down to watch Desert Hearts, a film I knew little about, I was less than hopeful. The film’s set up is by now a bit familiar—an older, distinguished blonde woman and a younger, artistic brunette woman become entangled in a will-they-won’t-they style love affair. As my partner likes to say, “Desert Hearts walked so that Carol could run.” But when I hit play, I didn’t know that yet. All I knew were the ghosts of dead/sad/“reformed” lesbians past. 

I watched the first half of the film tense with anticipatory disappointment. However, the tightness in my chest slowly began to dissipate as I continued on and realized…wait, this is going well? This is going better than well, it’s going…dare I say? Swell! When I reached the final scene I nearly jumped out of my chair, as giddy as the two lovebirds on screen impulsively traveling (in 40-minute increments) off into the sunset towards their best queer lives.

Janus Films

While I am certainly not the first person to laud Desert Hearts for its pioneering HEA (happily-ever-after), I do think this praise bears repeating. The film’s optimistically defiant tone is particularly noteworthy because it’s a period drama inside of a time capsule. Not only does the film take place in the repressive 1950’s, but it was released in Reagan’s America (economics aren’t the only thing trickling down, baby), before queer independent cinema had experienced its boom. Nowadays, the proliferation of lesbian period dramas is a well-known joke. Lesbians don’t exist in the 21st century, many-a-tweets read. And in a lot of ways I agree with these jabs—the sheer number of historical lesbian films is kind of outrageous when compared to the overall archive. But I don’t hate the concept. If done well, there can be something lovely and necessary about reclaiming space in history. Unfortunately, a lot of these movies are more interested in recapping old traumas for straight audiences. But Desert Hearts is careful not to do that. Instead, in 1950’s Reno director Donna Deitch creates a realm of dreamy liminality. It is a stylized, contained arena for all the questioning, exploring, and wanting that these characters experience. 

Because Deitch didn’t have many contemporary films to turn to for inspiration when crafting her lesbian romance, she looked instead to literature. The movie is based on the 1964 book Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule¹, one of the few about lesbians to be published in the hardcover format at the time. Ironically, Deitch married the source material with classic themes from lesbian pulp fiction (ie. an age-gap romance in which one is out and the other is not, minus the customary tragic ending) to create Desert Hearts’ nostalgic, sensual, western-ethereal feel.

Janus Films

In 1959, 35-year-old English Professor Vivan Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno, Nevada from New York City to obtain a no-fault-divorce from her equally academic husband (who, thankfully, we never meet). Vivian is initially cool, removed, and nervous. She wears her blonde hair pinned back, under a fittingly bland-gray hat. In order to establish residency, she stays at a “divorce ranch” run by Frances Parker (Audra Lindley), who spent years living with her married beau, and so understands the shortcomings of traditional unions. It’s there she meets Frances’ kinda step-daughter, 25-year-old Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau)—lesbian, wanna-be potter, and absolute fashion icon. From the moment we meet Cay, we understand her vibe—driving backwards down an open road, shouting through the car window at Frances and Vivian, her dark, short hair wind-swept in every direction. She’s the exact opposite of the buttoned-up Vivian, and yet she’s immediately enthralled by her. Thus, in the arid desert, romance blooms.

If this setup sounds a little formulaic to you, then you wouldn’t be alone. Contemporaneous mainstream reviews lambasted the movie for its “predictability,” with the New York Times saying that Donna Deitch had “a terribly literal idea of what movies should be.” I take issue with this, as have many before me. Context is key, and this reviewer seemed to not understand that for a lesbian in the 80’s seeking on-screen representation, Desert Hearts was anything but predictable. Even today, discovering this movie for the first time is a kind of shocking delight. And beyond the obvious—lesbians deserve earnest, sentimental romances too!—there’s the fact that I genuinely believe this movie is good!²

Janus Films

Shaver and Charbonneau’s chemistry simmers then sizzles as they inhabit the tension of their characters’ slow-burn love-affair. If Deitch sought to create an epic romance worthy of its vast Nevada backdrop, then in these two she found actors who were game to commit. I mean, it was hard enough to find two female actors willing to open-mouth kiss in 2012, but in 1986 these two more than understood the assignment—they were gunning for extra credit. Moreover, the mainstream, glossy look of the film should impress us, rather than deter us, given that the creators were working with a budget of only $800,000 dollars. Deitch deliberately executed her vision for what she wanted this movie to look and feel like—delicious, leisurely, like a long drive on a stretch of road with nowhere in particular to go. The soundtrack amplifies this ambience. Patsy Cline, Ella Fitzgerald, and Buddy Holly all croon in the background of various neon-lit scenes. 

Outside of Vivian and Cay’s romance, the film does a great job of creating lived-in dynamics between all of the characters. Many of the relationships are complicated and remain undefined, but feel real for that. Cay’s best friend Silver (Andra Akers) is a great example of this. She embodies the idea of the romantic, somewhat-naive Western woman. Her relationship with Cay could very easily come off as teasing or baiting—she kisses her, dances with her, even bathes with her!—but the easy rapport between the two women turns it into something far deeper and more nuanced. Similarly, Audra Lindley avoids playing Frances as the stereotypical mother who can’t come to terms with Cay’s queerness; her performance infuses their hot-and-cold dynamic with a much more frantic, desperate longing. While the dialogue can definitely veer into saccharine territory at times (“She reached in and put a string of lights around my heart”), the actors are mostly able to deliver their lines with enough groundedness to make it acceptable. And okay, that line is kind of cute…

Janus Films

While its happy ending has surely helped cement the film’s iconic status, I think what really strikes me about Desert Hearts is the way in which Cay, an out lesbian, so assuredly pursues Vivian. Even before Vivian steps off her train, Cay is shown to be someone who is completely comfortable in her skin, hosting a revolving door of women in her small home. And when Vivian arrives, Cay is confident enough to name the desire between them. I don’t think we get to see that near enough in lesbian cinema, especially lesbian cinema from previous generations. There is such a fear of the “predatory lesbian” stereotype that forwardness is often viewed skeptically. But Cay feels no shame in saying that, for her, Vivian is “somebody who counts.” She doesn’t gaslight herself away from reality, as we’re so often socialized to do—she knows that Vivian feels something too, and isn’t afraid to confront that. At one point, when Vivian questions why Cay is so “showy,” Cay defiantly replies that she doesn’t act that way to change the world—“I act that way so the world won’t change me.” The moment where Cay shows up at Vivian’s door and lays it all out on the table is shocking even by today’s standards—and amazingly cathartic. I think it might be hard for new viewers to understand the impact that the following sex scene had at the time of the film’s release. In the 80s, all that existed of lesbian sexuality on screen were cutaways and coy innuendos. But Deitch wasn’t afraid to show it all. Their actions are explicit, as is their ecstasy.

Janus Films

Desert Hearts' happy ending is in itself unconventional, queered (not at all “predictable”). Rather than give us a romantic standard (ie. a proposal, marriage, or even a declaration of ever-lasting love), the film asks us to reconsider how we make it to happily-ever-after. Is it all at once, based on abstract ideas of the future? Or is it through a series of smaller moments, decisions based on present desires? This ability to question while remaining idyllic is why I believe Desert Hearts has endured for as long as it has, becoming a touchstone for generations of sapphics. Case in point, when I asked my aunts—who came out in the 80s, have been together since the 90s, and are my direct line to our queer elders—if they knew the movie, they shared a knowing, conspiratorial look. “Oh yes,” they smiled. “We know it.”

You can (and should) stream Desert Hearts on Max.

BIG GAY PICTURES! 

To all those who attended our Big Gay Party at Ginger’s Bar last weekend, thank you! We had an incredible time celebrating queer art with old friends and meeting new ones. If you discovered us through the party, we hope you’ll stick around for a while and give us the chance to win you over <3 

The event was photographed by Alyssa Lester, and you can access the album and download photos here! If you share them on Instagram, please tag @theyearningnewsletter and @lysslester :) 

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Next week on The Yearning, Meg kicks off spooky season with a scary gay movie to be revealed…oOoOoO

1. Yes, we love how many women were involved in the making of this film! Female director, producer, and screenwriter, baby!

2. And the Criterion Collection agrees with me!