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Carol (2015)
Desert Hearts, 30 years on...
*SPOILER* Has anyone mentioned that Carol is a historically compelling 30-year bookend to Desert Hearts? The two films, released in 1985 and 2015 -- 30 years apart -- are rich and resonant images of the novels, The Price of Salt/Carol (1952, Patricia Highsmith) and The Desert Of The Heart (1964, Jane Rule).
These two masterpieces of love between women have shown us that love...is love. Both end with the vast potential that a so-called forbidden love can exist in our society without the participants succumbing to the usual portrayal of petty jealousy, self-hatred, or familial or social pressure; that two people can find a way to live their lives as healthy and loving individuals as well as a pairing of romantic passion, commitment and brave perseverance against seemingly insurmountable odds.
The screenwriters' adaptations of both books -- Phyllis Nagy, for Carol, and especially Natalie Cooper, for Desert Hearts -- are heroic and offer simple and splendid revelations of the relationships between two very different women, how their lives intersect and how they find a path to each other regardless of the stilted and suffocating mores of their time.
The Bell Jar (1979)
no, it's not the book, but...a flawed, intriguing interpretation nonetheless
I saw this movie when it first came out, before I had read the book. It's impossible to capture the immensity of Esther's pain as she staggers toward oblivion, but watching the movie gave me a definite sense of a life in utter chaos. Yes, the film is flawed, but in my mind it stands alone as a separate entity. Marilyn Hassett's portrayal of Esther is terrifying--I haven't empathized so completely with a character on the brink of dementia since Kathleen Quinlan as Deborah in "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden." The supporting cast is equally solid--it's not their fault that there's just too much ground for one little movie to cover. Donna Mitchell stays in my mind as creating, in Joan's character, a young woman as doomed and in as much mental disarray as Esther. Mitchell is an amazingly underrated (and under-used) actress. I'm not sure if our boys would have given it two thumbs up, but it remains one of my closet classics.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
an amazing performance pays homage to a book of overwhelming complexity
I agree completely with Dara. I was 20 when I saw it and I would recommend reading the book first, which gives you the background for Deborah's dreamlife. The film can't even begin to show the cruel beauty of her inner world, and (perhaps appropriately) omits any reference to her ethnic and familial demons.
When I think of this movie, I see the look in Kathleen Quinlan's eyes. Her performance is precocious and utterly...amazing, especially for an actress just into her 20's. She seems possessed, wholly inhabited by the character of Deborah, and her scenes with Bibi Andersson are magical. I would credit the director and cinematographer with the wonderful feel of the movie, but Quinlan's portrayal of a young girl marooned in a parallel universe of her mind's own devising is timeless.