Cowgirls in Love
“I think I found someone who counts.”
To kick off this month’s new film review theme: QUEER CINEMA, I watched the 1985 Donna Deitch film “Desert Hearts”. Tender and raw, “Desert Hearts” is an exquisite portrait of rural life and queer love. Set in 1950’s Reno, Nevada, it tells the story of two young women who fall deeply in love despite opposition from family and towngoers trying to stop them.
The film opens with Vivian, played by Helen Shaver, getting off the train and heading into town. It is revealed that she is a 35-year-old English professor at Columbia who arrives in Reno to divorce her husband. She is very mysterious and closed off. On the other hand, we have Cay, the 25 year old casino girl with a secret that everyone knows about: she is a lesbian. She has an ambiguous mother-daughter-ish relationship with the owner of the ranch, Frances, that Vivian is staying at. Frances absolutely adores Cay as if she were her own daughter, but she disapproves of Cay’s sexuality.
At the start, Vivian tries to stay away from everyone and avoids any conversations with any of the other residents of the ranch. One day, Vivian gets flustered in an argument with one of the other residents and goes for a walk to deliver mail, per Frances’ request, in order to escape for a few minutes. This is where she meets the outcast Cay, and sees a naked woman in bed waiting for Cay when she gets there. Immediately she is made privy to Cay’s sexuality, and quickly leaves out of discomfort.
While Vivian is quiet around Cay, Cay is intrigued and entranced by her. Having not often left Reno, Cay is interested by this ethereal older otherworldly woman. She immediately begins to develop feelings for Vivian and tries to get to know her. Vivian is a wreck after visiting her divorce lawyer and being prodded to choose a reason for the divorce (which she can’t put a name to other than that she wants a different life), and Cay becomes a shoulder to cry on and a person to confide in.
Slowly but surely, the audience watches the two seemingly polar opposite women fall in love amidst a town filled with constant gossip and haters. The power dynamic is really interesting to see how it balances out because while Cay is 10 years younger than Viv, she has way more sexual and romantic experiences with women than Vivian and guides her through that process. The director does a great job making the playing fields even between them and not focusing on their backgrounds more than needed, but on who they are in the present moment and how that enhances their love.
This film has a clear “female gaze” which is so refreshing to see amidst the plethora of lesbian films directed by men who clearly just care about watching lesbian sex (looking at you Blue is the Warmest Color). Deitch made this film with such a devotion to showing the vulnerability and the complexities of women, and it clearly shows. This film can be watched on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Caroline Lannes — November 9th, 2021
