01
Carol
Why this pick
Its exquisitely controlled 1950s world and slow, charged glances echo Desert Hearts’ blend of social constraint, romantic awakening, and quietly defiant tenderness.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1985 1h 31m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Desert Hearts
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Desert Hearts, try these.
01
02
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Why this pick
A patient, visually ravishing romance built from observation and mutual recognition, with the same sense that intimacy becomes an escape from prescribed lives.
03
Fire
Why this pick
Like Desert Hearts, it finds emotional and erotic possibility within a restrictive social order, centering a relationship that steadily becomes a source of self-possession.
04
Tell It to the Bees
Why this pick
Its postwar setting, clandestine affection, and compassionate focus on women pushing against small-town judgment recall the emotional stakes beneath Desert Hearts’ calm surface.
05
Mädchen in Uniform
Why this pick
A foundational, unusually sympathetic queer melodrama whose stylized restraint and institutional pressures illuminate the long cinematic lineage behind Desert Hearts’ romantic courage.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
In 1959, Vivian Bell, a 35-year-old English studies professor at Columbia University in New York City, travels to Reno to establish residency in Nevada (a process that takes six weeks), in order to obtain a quickie divorce. She stays at a guest house ranch for women who are waiting for their divorces to be finalized. The guest ranch is owned by Frances Parker.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Helen Shaver
Vivian Bell
Patricia Charbonneau
Cay Rivvers
Andra Akers
Silver
Gwen Welles
Gwen
Dean Butler
Darrell
James Staley
Art Warner
Katie La Bourdette
Lucille
Antony Ponzini
Joe