Desert Hearts
The Frida Cinema's seating is first-come, first-serve. For our Midnight Screenings, please plan on arriving by 11:30pm to ensure ample time for parking, picking up concessions, and securing optimal seats. Screening will begin promptly at midnight.
Director: Donna Deitch Run Time: 91 min. Release Year: 1985
Starring: Andra Akers, Audra Lindley, Gwen Welles, Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau
Just added: Frida Board Member/Trivia Night host Atalia Lopez (Chapman University) and Porter Gilberg (Frida Director of Development) will join us Monday 2/9 at 8:00PM for a pre-screening presentation on the film’s literary history and cinematic influences. An interactive discussion will take place immediately following the film.
Celebrate 40 years since the release of Donna Deitch’s swooning and sensual first film, Desert Hearts!
Groundbreaking upon its 1986 release, the 1959-set film, an adaptation of a beloved novel by Jane Rule, stars straitlaced East Coast professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver), who arrives in Reno to file for divorce, but winds up catching the eye of someone new, the younger free spirit Cay (Patricia Charbonneau). From there, the movie becomes a touching and slow seduction that unfolds against the breathtaking desert landscape.
With smoldering chemistry between its two leads, an evocative jukebox soundtrack, and vivid cinematography by Robert Elswit, Desert Hearts beautifully exudes a sense of tender yearning and emotional candor.