The Dryden will screen Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, U.S. 1986, 96 min., DCP) as part of the UCLA Festival of Preservation Tour, and ImageOut series. (Also note the detailed introduction by Pauline Lampert.)

Based on Jane Rule's novel Desert of the Heart (1964), Donna Deitch's narrative feature debut centers on a burgeoning romance between libertine casino worker Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau) and repressed university professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) in Reno, Nevada, in the late 1950s, a climate wherein being queer was . . . complicated. A landmark for its positive, nuanced portrayal of lesbian romance and celebrated for its passionate, sensual bedroom scenes that nearly fog the camera's lens, Deitch's film explores the tension inherent in a sheltered woman accepting her newfound sexual self.

[source: George Eastman Museum calendar, 2018-May-28]