Desert Hearts fingerprintBig heart, strong craft, low-key.
Calm and low-key
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Deeply romantic and melancholic
A little humor
Not a comedy at heart.
History and society
Lived-in and easy to get lost in.
Standout performances and characters
Standout cinematography
Calm and low-key
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Desert Hearts is calm and low-intensity. The story builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Deeply romantic and melancholic
Emotionally, it's deeply romantic, melancholic, and hopeful.
A little humor
Not a comedy at heart.
Expect a little humor.
History and society
Lived-in and easy to get lost in.
Its world is built around history and society. The setting feels lived-in and easy to get lost in.
Standout performances and characters
The performances and characters stand out.
Standout cinematography
Look and sound: the cinematography stand out.
Based on the GoodWatch fingerprint: our scores for 70+ attributes of every movie. Select a row to see all of them.
In 1959, Vivian Bell came to Reno, Nevada for a quick divorce. Of all the people she met there, the one who surprised her the most was herself.
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Desert Hearts1985
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Quick answers from GoodWatch data.
Desert Hearts is included with a subscription to TCM and HBO Max in the United States. You can also rent or buy it from Apple TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home. All links in Where to Watch go to these licensed services.
Mostly. It's well received, with a GoodWatch score of 74/100 (IMDb 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes 77%, and Metacritic 67). The GoodWatch score combines critic and audience ratings.
Content advisories: sexual content.
1 h 31 min
Desert Hearts runs 1 h 31 min.
No. It's adapted from a novel.
Yes. Critics average 72 and audiences 77 out of 100, so both groups see Desert Hearts much the same way.
Yes, a big one. It cost about $350,000 to make and earned $2 million worldwide, 6.9 times its budget.
It was made in English. Produced in United States.
GoodWatch finds legal streaming, rental, or purchase options for Desert Hearts in 11 countries. Pick any of them in Where to Watch to see the local services.
TV Tropes lists 28 storytelling tropes for Desert Hearts, including The Casino, Significant Wardrobe Shift, The Modest Orgasm.
7.1
