Day 4 - Education - Desert Hearts
Feb. 4th, 2023 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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halfamoonFor today's theme of education, I wrote an appreciation of "Desert Hearts", a film in which a female college professor receives a different sort of education from a free-spirited artist
I first became aware of the movie “Desert Hearts” in college. I worked in our AV office and on one of the walls was a giant poster from the film. I was intrigued by it, but didn't take the time to watch it until I was out of college, back home. I had my own room with a television and a VCR and decided on a whim to get a copy of the videotape from Blockbuster. It was sort of an “on the down low” kind of thing because I wasn't really in a position where I wanted to answer why I was picking up lesbian movies from the video store.
The details:
“Desert Hearts” is a 1985 movie directed by Donna Deitch, with a script written by Natalie Cooper based on the novel “Desert of the Heart” by Jane Rule. It takes place in 1959 as the main character, college professor Vivian Bell, comes to Reno for six weeks to secure a divorce from her husband. On her arrival at Reno, Vivian stays at a ranch owned by Frances Parker where she meets Cay, who lives on the ranch and is like a daughter to Frances.
Cay is an artist, speaks her mind, and is generally the polar opposite of Vivian. Something about Vivian attracts her and she wants the friendship to blossom into something more. She finds herself spending more and more time with Vivian. Vivian is stunned by the open way Cay lives her life- she actually has a woman, Gwen, in her bed when Vivian comes to deliver the mail, but, over time, she cannot resist the allure of the other woman.
After one of Cay's friends gets engaged, Cay and Vivian take a drive after the engagement party and wind up talking until the sun starts to come up the next day. They share a kiss and Cay drives Vivian back to the ranch, where Frances is waiting with Vivian's bags packed and a taxi waiting to take her to a hotel in town.
Vivian tries to forget Cay, but the younger woman tracks her down, and after some talking and negotiation, the two wind up in bed together. Cay is able to awaken Vivian's passionate side. The two spend several nights together at the hotel. Vivian is uncomfortable being out with Cay around strangers which angers Cay, even though she admits to knowing that this couldn't be permanent, that Vivian would be gone as soon as her decree was final.
That part is true. The story ends where it began at the train station in Reno. Cay is there to see Vivian off. They talk a bit and Vivian talks about how much promise she sees in Cay. She asks Cay to ride with her to the next station, so she can spend twenty more minutes with her love. The movie ends with Cay taking Vivian's hand and joining her on the train that is slowly moving out of the station.
This movie still is, for me, one of the most romantic films I have ever seen. If you haven't seen it yet and you're a fan of lesbian films, be sure to take a look. Here's a link to the scene that I may have had to rewind quite a few times on that old videotape from Blockbuster:
Kiss in the Rain
I first became aware of the movie “Desert Hearts” in college. I worked in our AV office and on one of the walls was a giant poster from the film. I was intrigued by it, but didn't take the time to watch it until I was out of college, back home. I had my own room with a television and a VCR and decided on a whim to get a copy of the videotape from Blockbuster. It was sort of an “on the down low” kind of thing because I wasn't really in a position where I wanted to answer why I was picking up lesbian movies from the video store.
The details:
“Desert Hearts” is a 1985 movie directed by Donna Deitch, with a script written by Natalie Cooper based on the novel “Desert of the Heart” by Jane Rule. It takes place in 1959 as the main character, college professor Vivian Bell, comes to Reno for six weeks to secure a divorce from her husband. On her arrival at Reno, Vivian stays at a ranch owned by Frances Parker where she meets Cay, who lives on the ranch and is like a daughter to Frances.
Cay is an artist, speaks her mind, and is generally the polar opposite of Vivian. Something about Vivian attracts her and she wants the friendship to blossom into something more. She finds herself spending more and more time with Vivian. Vivian is stunned by the open way Cay lives her life- she actually has a woman, Gwen, in her bed when Vivian comes to deliver the mail, but, over time, she cannot resist the allure of the other woman.
After one of Cay's friends gets engaged, Cay and Vivian take a drive after the engagement party and wind up talking until the sun starts to come up the next day. They share a kiss and Cay drives Vivian back to the ranch, where Frances is waiting with Vivian's bags packed and a taxi waiting to take her to a hotel in town.
Vivian tries to forget Cay, but the younger woman tracks her down, and after some talking and negotiation, the two wind up in bed together. Cay is able to awaken Vivian's passionate side. The two spend several nights together at the hotel. Vivian is uncomfortable being out with Cay around strangers which angers Cay, even though she admits to knowing that this couldn't be permanent, that Vivian would be gone as soon as her decree was final.
That part is true. The story ends where it began at the train station in Reno. Cay is there to see Vivian off. They talk a bit and Vivian talks about how much promise she sees in Cay. She asks Cay to ride with her to the next station, so she can spend twenty more minutes with her love. The movie ends with Cay taking Vivian's hand and joining her on the train that is slowly moving out of the station.
This movie still is, for me, one of the most romantic films I have ever seen. If you haven't seen it yet and you're a fan of lesbian films, be sure to take a look. Here's a link to the scene that I may have had to rewind quite a few times on that old videotape from Blockbuster:
Kiss in the Rain
no subject
Date: 2023-02-07 02:08 am (UTC)Interesting thought about Walter being a bridge for them. Perhaps if he came to New York for school, there would be that link. I'm going to have to think more about that and maybe pursue that line of thought in the future.
You should do that! I would read the heck out of it.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-07 03:11 am (UTC)As I said one of the inspirations for my very first Willow/Tara fic was a movie called Lianna, which I saw on Channel 4 here in the UK years before I got to see Desert Hearts. Recently I got to see two incredible asian movies; Butterfly from Hong Kong & Spider Lilies from Taiwan, and there are some other incredible movies from other countries too; Rome & Juliet from the Philippines (I'm desperate to write fanfics for that and web series called Lulu; released early in 2022).
Then there's the delightful Yes or No from Thailand; La luciérnaga (usually known as The Firefly) the very first Queer movie of any stripe, but definitely the first lesbian movie from Colombia. Korea recently had a web series turned into a live action TV Series that had two lesbian characters created for it; their story was written so well you have to remind yourself they're not the main characters.
Korea also had She Makes My Heart Flutter released in Nov/Dec of 2022 which had no male characters at all; was set in a lesbian bar and, for a country with no real protections for Queer people, a wonderfully light-hearted touch and optimistic outlook.
The lesbian web is going absolutely insane over the incredibly well made Gap the Series; one episode to go for it all to go pear-shaped of course, but Korea & Thailand & the Philippines are all coming out with material that rivals even Wynonna Earp and makes the tentativeness of Tara & Willow and what happened with Clarke & Lexa on The 100 look like anothee Aeon entirely.
kerk
no subject
Date: 2023-02-08 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-09 03:55 am (UTC)Hardly; just something I can bore people to death with if they sit still enough to listen.
My current spate of fics started because I finally got to see a Japanese show called Transit Girls from 2015; discovered via a fanvid, that I finally got to see back in November (not long before I first saw She Makes My Heart Flutter) and posted a fic about two of the characters on Dec 25th.
Five since then, and another one nearly has a first draft finished.
But expertise is not what I would think of it as; feel so very short of that, especially with the cultural nuances.
Thank you though :-)
kerk