Rating: 
Summary: This is a very enjoyable movie....
Review: no matter what walk of life you are in. This movie is loosely based on the book "Desert of the Heart" written by Jane Rule. Given the budget and the difficult task of making Ms. Rule's book come to the screen I believe they did a great job. The movie takes place in 1959 with the sound track and sets you don't have a problem believing it. The direction/acting are well done and the chemistry between the characters is believable. Also, if you haven't read the book, do so....
Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect, but one of the best available
Review: Ok, so it's a low budget film and some folks feel the plot could have been developed better. Even so, it's an unflinching adaptation of the novel by Jane Rule and a better film than many others with bigger budgets that get much more exposure. Besides, it's simply a pleasure to watch. After seeing "The Color Purple" and "Fried Green Tomatoes" I could only hope that the films were enough to lead viewers to get the books on which they were based and read the real stories. After watching "Desert Hearts" I felt the "real story" of the novel had been told, though I still strongly recommend the book. Kudos to Donna Deitch for working so hard to bring this to us. I'm replacing my worn home copy of a broadcast I recorded years ago with an "official" copy as a Christmas gift to myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Shaver's Performance Too Edgy and Uptight
Review: Patricia Charbonneau and Audra Lindley give fantastic, fully dimensional performances in this predictable but enjoyable film. In fact, in several scenes, they steal the show. However, Helen Shaver's performance as Vivian Bell, the prim professor in search of a quickie divorce, set me on edge. Shaver walks around like she is perpetually constipated or has a stick shoved up her Summa Cum Laude derriere. Even when Vivian finally sexually succumbs to the luscious, free-spirited Cay (Charbonneau), Shaver's professor still is edgy and uptight. Can this woman ever relax? Perhaps Shaver was not that comfortable in this role, the end result being a two-dimensional, emotionally wooden character. I would think that there'd be a substantial change in Vivian after she discovers her true sexuality and her love for Cay, but Shaver never breaks free of her stiff portrayal. If Shaver had shown more depth and warmth with her character, this would have been an excellent film. The soundtrack is great and the costuming and sets superb for depicting life in the late 1950's.
Rating:
Summary: an upbeat classic
Review: quite different from the fine novel upon which it is based, and yet good in its own right. sweet, witty, old fashioned. the acting is very fine, especially helen shaver, and the electricity between she and patricia charbonneau is amazing. this small film showcases one of the best uses of background music in any movie i've ever seen. there are no real bad guys here, either. it's just about the great joy and relief that two people feel when they manage, against great odds, to find each other.
Rating:
Summary: Desert Hearts: Hot, Hot, Hot.
Review: Reserved, timid schoolteacher goes to 1950s Las Vegas for a quiet, quick divorce, and unexpectedly finds herself attracted to a young casino worker. A sweet, complicated romance; this movie does not ignore the stigma of lesbianism. Great soundtrack with Jim Reeves, the Andrews Sisters, and lots of Patsy Cline. Also some very erotic scenes. How hot is it? The last time I saw this film, a gay man was fanning himself, and a nun asked for a cigarette afterwards. Low-budget independent film based on Jane Rule's novel "Desert of the Heart". END
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The acting is stiff, the plot is pointless, the theme is clichéd, the ending predictable... My partner could only say "Awful awful awful..." The characterisations are jagged, partial, and not credible. The film did not engage in genuine issues, and instead indulged in a lot of shouting and other melodrama....END
Rating:
Summary: Breaking the Celluloid Closet
Review: The DVD has a special available feature including the director, Donna Deitch, providing commentary about making the film. She states that the most important aspect, to her, in translating the book to film was that neither of the main characters dies. She tells about the obstacles that stood in the way of getting it filmed. She talks repeatedly of how difficult it was to raise money, humiliating. She also says that after raising $1mil, she needed another $250G for the song rights. I think the film will stand the test of time as a classic. And nobody dies, or goes back to being heterosexual.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: The film was okay. I would not recommend buying it, but it's okay to rent. Vivian Bell (Helen) and Patricia Charbonneau (Cay) gave strong performances as the "professor" and the "wild card" who fall in love. The shy glances exchanged between them were sexy and natural. Also, the slow, intimate sex scene was very erotic, even more so because the director chose to eliminate a musical backdrop and focus on the two women's passionate breathing. Audra Lindley (Frances) also turned in a strong performance as Cay's alcoholic stepmother. Some of the supporting characters were weak (especially Cay's best friend) and some of the lines were lame. But overall, a good effort for a first-time director.I'm sure Deitch will turn out much better cinema in the future. Final advice: Rent.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Passionate
Review: The storyline and characters are somewhat interesting, though not as interesting as the explosive lesbian love scene near the end of the film! Both Helen Shaver & Patricia Charbonneau are beautiful, and the kissing between them is enough to make your heart stop! Don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Not as magical as the book
Review: The trouble is, this film is too close to Jane Rule's gorgeous novel to separate itself, yet it cannot hope to convey the magic and subtleties painted by Jane Rule whose characters are so well-defined; whose sense of timing and space is impeccable and who develops the tensions (slight and not-so-slight) between these women by way of their perceptions (of each other and their own situations). It is one of the tenderest love stories I have read and yet it is neither unduly emotional nor sentimental. The scene by the lake (Chapter 5), for instance, where Evelyn (Vivian in the film) utters that she lives in a desert of the heart, can hardly have the same impact on film where we depend on a visual interpretation of events rather than a disclosure of her thoughts. It is where Evelyn realises she's losing a battle; her morality is about to be jolted. She clings to familiar things, the drive through the storm and so on, in the hope that the problem will go away while knowing that it won't. At the same time Ann (Cay in the film) has an instinct for knowing when not to press herself further while never quite withdrawing. The film does not capture these subtleties. For all that, it is a beautiful, sensitive film in its own right, spoiled by an ending that might have been better if it followed the book. In almost the last line, far from Vivian (Evelyn) departing forever, she opts to stay "for an indefinite period of time". Until that moment one is on the edge of one's seat and somehow the film's almost certain "goodbye" comes as a cop-out; as if the women might have been infatuated; Vivian frightened of discovering this new aspect of her sexuality but surrendering to a daring experiment rather than being in love as the book conveys and realising at the last instant that goodbye isn't possible at that moment. The sex scene is inconsequential by the way but tastefully done for those who like such cliches.
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