Desert Hearts takes a potentially salacious topic and treats it with a gentleness that makes it if not universal at least less shocking than it might have been, especially in the mid-1980s. Simply told, with no great flashes, Desert Hearts does not dance around its subject but does not exaggerate it either.
Reno, 1959. 35-year-old college professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) has come to Nevada to fulfill the six weeks required residency to have a quick divorce. She stays at a ranch owned by rustic pioneer woman Frances Parker (Audra Lindley). Frances lives with her son Walter (Alex McArthur) while in a nearby home is Walter's half-sister Cay (Patricia Charbonneau). Frances was the long-term mistress of Cay's father, who has recently passed away. Frances and Cay, a sculptress who works in a local casino, get on well though Frances is a bit clingy with her and Walter.
Cay is also open about her lesbianism though not overt about it. Cay is fond of flings and has a BFF in aspiring singer Silver (Andra Akers), who may be more than a friend despite Silver's engagement to the very tolerant Joe (Antoni Ponzini). Cay is drawn to Vivian, a woman of culture, letters and thoughts but who also wants to be as far away from everyone as possible. Despite this, Vivian's need for friendship allows her to begin going around town with Cay.
It is purely platonic for Vivian, until after Silver's engagement party. Going to see a nearby lake, Cay kisses a slightly tipsy Vivian, who returns the kiss and then withdraws. When they arrive the next morning to the ranch, Frances kicks Vivian out but arranges for a hotel so Vivian can complete her residency. Cay, enraged and hurt, leaves the ranch. As the clock ticks down to Vivian's impending divorce and Silver & Joe's wedding, will Vivian and Cay consummate their relationship? Will they consider a life outside Nevada? Will Cay and Frances make peace with each other and their ideas of love paternal and carnal?
Desert Hearts might now be seen as tame, especially since there is no true love scene between Vivian and Cay until over an hour into the film. Given that Desert Hearts runs a brisk 96 minutes, anyone looking to the film for just woman-on-woman may be in for a surprise. The one scene is surprisingly tender and still, perhaps a bit more explicit than audiences at the time were used to. Nowadays, I think modern viewers would say that it is not graphic enough, but I found it gentle and restrained. I was more shocked by seeing Cay and Silver in a bathtub together than I was at seeing Vivian and Cay indulge in the pleasures of the flesh.
I think this is due to Donna Deitch's directing of Natalie Cooper's screenplay. Cooper, adapting Jane Rule's novel Desert of the Heart, made clear that Cay was a lesbian, but this was never treated as something either shocking or ordinary. In reality, I do not remember the word "lesbian" being used. I did see that a lot of Desert Hearts made Cay's orientation clear while not going into detail. Instead, we can see that Cay is a lesbian by how she relates to women and men like Darrell (Dean Butler) who is open about his affection for her. She does not dislike him, but she makes clear that she has other interests.
What I did find curious is that prior to the love scene, there is little to no indication that Vivian has ever thought of being with another woman. We never hear her speak about any sapphic longings. In fact, she seems a bit put off by Cay's more open manner. Desert Hearts, looking at it now at a distance of forty years, might actually come across as lesbian wish fulfillment, a case of seducing a straight woman. Again, to be fair, apart from her being married to a man and a mild flirtation between her and the younger Walter, we get no real suggestions that Vivian is anything other than straight. She may have repressed any same-sex desires. She may be bisexual. Desert Hearts is a bit opaque on that matter. As such, it runs the risk of being seen as fantasy.
Perhaps, thinking on it now, it might be that Vivian is looking for love and wants to break free from the constraints that she has. "Have you realized your ambitions?", Cay asks when they go on a horse ride. "No," Vivian replies, "just my plans". It is hard to say, but I do not come at this from a lesbian perspective.
I can say that Desert Hearts is an extremely well-acted film. Shaver brings a cool, patrician manner to Vivian. She is by no means cold, but rather lonely and hurt. She makes the transformation from the aloof soon-to-be-divorcee to the more open and affectionate woman quite well. Deitch not only guides this transformation through her directing but on other choices. We see Vivian first in very formal attire, far too serious for the Nevadan desert. As the film goes on, we see, slowly but surely, Vivian dressing more casually, enhancing the transformation.
Desert Hearts was Charbonneau's film debut. While there are hints that reveal her inexperience on camera, she made Cay into a very open, unashamed woman who like Vivian, wanted a life of her own. Her last scenes with both Lindley and Shaver are moving. Charbonneau and Shaver worked very well together, making it a double act worth taking the time to look at.
For much of Desert Hearts, I wondered if I had seen Audra Lindley before. The voice sounded familiar, as did the face, yet I could not place it. It was not until I saw the credits again that my memory started jogging. It took a while, but I finally realized that Lindley's greatest claim to fame was as the outrageous perpetually sex-starved Mrs. Roper on Three's Company. Desert Hearts is a showcase for Lindley's rarely tapped talent, as Frances Parker is as far removed from Helen Roper as can be imagined. She is a standout as the woman who is cooly tolerant of Cay's lifestyle until it begins to draw her away from Frances. It is not strictly any anti-gay feeling that pushes Frances away. Rather, it is a fear of abandonment. Frances is loving but flawed, someone who does care for and about others but who can also push others out if they begin living apart from her.
The film moves deliberately but not fast. It is well-directed, using a natural soundtrack of songs that would fit into the time and place. One hardly notices that the time goes by fast or that at times the low funds come through.
On the whole, I found Desert Hearts respectful, surprisingly lush at times. It may not have used minor characters well and still be a bit hard to know if Vivian was gay or bisexual when we began. However, with strong performances and an involving story, the Desert Hearts beat strongly.
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