Desert Hearts
Samuel Goldwyn Company, The | Release Date: March 7, 1986 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneGene Siskel
The story is not sensationalistic, although its love scene could not be more emotional. It`s a gentle story of someone being brought in from the cold. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineClayton Dillard
It advocates risk and consciousness as the only means to overcome the cold, repressive hand of so-called normative thought. Read full review
80
Washington PostPaul Attanasio
This is an astonishingly polished and nuanced first film. It deserves to be celebrated, not quibbled with. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Though not without problems, Desert Hearts is a triumph for director Donna Deitch and an inspiration for any independent filmmaker. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldBill Cosford
Desert Hearts offers its central romance virtually free of moral clutter. Deitch tries neither to justify her characters' actions nor to place them in the context of the "forbidden"; she deals instead with intimacy, pieces of their lives. [18 Apr 1986, p.D5]
70
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Deitch is well served by Shaver as the teacher and Charbonneau as the young seducer. Best of all, however, is the way the movie dignifies all its characters. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I might have enjoyed Desert Hearts more if it had been more subtle and observant about the two women. It might have been a better movie if it had been about discovery instead of seduction. Read full review
63
Washington PostRita Kempley
Given the low budget, there was no money for transitions or fancy wideshots, so the look is strangled, stranded and somehow like stagework. All the same, if you are a woman who loves women, you will no doubt love Desert Hearts. But it doesn't seem a good bet to cross over. [18 Apr 1986, p.27]
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