The Kids are All Right (2010) was perhaps more unusual, about a long-established lesbian relationship and the challenges of bringing up children and staying in love. Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) is probably the best known of these – an intense story of first love and the pain of a relationship’s breakdown. In recent years, several important lesbian films have both impressed critics and found box office success. The success of Carol and the return of Desert Hearts reflects our need for stories that show not only the difficulties, hostility and discrimination faced by lesbians, but also offer up the possibility of honesty and love. First shown 30 years ago at London’s first gay and lesbian film festival, it returned this year to BFI Flare, serving up a heady mix of 1950s rock ‘n’ roll, casinos, cowboys, and lesbians.
This is Desert Hearts, a 1986 film with striking parallels to last year’s hit Carol. Prospective divorcees have to be resident in Nevada for six weeks: long enough for Vivian to fall in love with casino change-girl and artist Cay, a friend of the family. It’s 1959, and Vivian, an immaculately manicured and tightly controlled English literature professor from Columbia University, is arriving in Reno, Nevada, to stay on her friend Frances’ ranch while waiting for her divorce to come through.
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