Desert Hearts (Blu-ray)

THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Donna Deitch’s swooning and sensual first narrative feature, Desert Hearts,was groundbreaking upon its release in 1985: a love story about two women, made entirely independently, on a shoestring budget, by a woman. In this 1959-set film, adapted from a beloved novel by Jane Rule, straitlaced East Coast professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno to file for divorce but winds up catching the eye of someone new, the free-spirited young Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), touching off a slow seduction that unfolds against a breathtaking desert landscape. With undeniable 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.

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Robert Elswit and created by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project and the Sundance Institute, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary from 2007 featuring director Donna Deitch
• New conversation between Deitch and actor Jane Lynch
• New interviews with actors Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau
• Remembering Reno, a new program featuring Deitch, Elswit, and production designer Jeannine Oppewall
• Excerpt from Fiction and Other Truths: A Film About Jane Rule, a 1994 documentary about the author of Desert of the Heart, the 1964 novel on which the film is based
• PLUS: An essay by critic B. Ruby Rich