Instead of hosting your 100th Carol watch party this Pride Month, why not delve a little deeper into the less celebrated milestones of queer cinema? On Friday, several of these movies, including Desert Hearts, Lianna, The Watermelon Woman, and more, will be front and center as part of video-on-demand service FilmStrucks “Classics of Lesbian Literature” series. And who better to comment on this series than the lesbian who came up with that infamous U-Haul joke, Orange Is the New Blacks Lea DeLaria?
Of the movies playing in the series Friday, DeLaria is especially excited about Desert Hearts, a movie that has long been considered part of the lesbian film canon. The 1985 adaptation of Jane Rules Desert of the Heart takes place in Reno circa 1959 and features a love affair between a young, out woman and an older woman who is still figuring out her sexual identity. Maybe its most notable quality—and a rare one even today—is that it was directed, produced, and written by women: director Donna Deitch and screenwriter Natalie Cooper, respectively. What else makes Desert Hearts one of DeLarias favorites? Let her explain.
Vanity Fair: What do you most enjoy about this movie, and why is it so significant?
Lea DeLaria: Well, theres a great sex scene. A friend of mine was texting me as I was watching all of these movies, but [during Desert Hearts] I was like, “quit texting me; this is the hottest sex scene in any lesbian film ever.” And this was made by two women, which feels progressive even now.
In 1985, theres no way that they were giving women a pile of money to do anything—maybe to buy groceries. So, the fact that they were able to make this huge, big-budget movie—it was an indie, but it was a big-budget indie—was amazing. Jane Rule, you cannot go wrong with that material; its fucking awesome material. But the main reason I like this movie is that this is a gay woman who doesnt give a fuck what anybody thinks about it. I loved that about her. Her problem in this movie, what she needs to deal with, is a normal human condition that any human would have, whether you were lesbian or not. You never saw that; it was one of the things I hated about gay cinema at that time.
When I saw the film, I was struck by the intergenerational aspect of their relationship.
Obviously, its very significant because it was in every one of the movies [in the series] that I watched. Every one of the movies had intergenerational relationships between the lesbian couples. I think this is why [people think] older women are lesbians. They have to recruit [younger lesbians]. This is part of the recruiting stigma. So, its not probably the narrative we want to have said about us, but I think thats probably what it comes from. Having said that, I did an interview where I talk about how great it is for me to be me right now, and turning 60. Finally, in my community, we seem to embrace the concept of the “daddy.” When I was a kid, we had a button that said, “I like older women.” It was a very prevalent button in the 80s, but we never referred to them as a “daddy.” But now, in my community, they do. Im a daddy. Im an older butch dyke who likes younger women. Now, I look at it and its almost an empowering thing.
What is different about the specific relationship in this film?
The difference in Desert Hearts is the one whos confident, the one who says, “Im a lesbian, and thats fuckin it,” is the younger woman. Its the older woman who has to deal with changing her shit. Thats a very different spin. This is topsy-turvy, and it just turns it on its head in this really kind of lovely way—and sexy, sexy as hell. The older woman does teach the younger woman what it is that she needs, whats going on with her. Shes stuck. Shes stuck in this ranch; shes stuck with her quote-unquote mother. Shes afraid to take the steps that she needs to take intellectually and artistically. Thats when the older woman steps in and helps her. Thats, again, the thing that I find really exciting about that movie. The situation is not fraught with the fact that theyre lesbians. Its fraught with something else. Its just a human conflict.
What did you think about some of the stereotypes that they joke about in the film? Theres one where the older woman says something like, “Its all unraveling so fast!” and the younger woman says, “It comes with the territory.” That was great.
I laughed out loud when I heard that. Oh my god; it so comes with the territory. I also like when she says [when talking about a man she was once with], “I became attracted to his attraction to me.” I thought it was very smart.
What is 2018s answer to Desert Hearts?
I dont think there is one. Maybe that lesbian rom-com Im hoping to get made.
If someone were to write the perfect queer rom-com, what would it have to include?
For one, it needs to be funny; thats really important in a rom-com. And its interesting that you bring up the intergenerational thing, because I thought that would be part of it. And it needs to show lesbians having a good time together, instead of some angst-driven bullshit. Comedy, comedy—we have fun; we have fun lives. Come join me at the Cubbyhole on a Sunday afternoon for a Sunday Funday. Believe me, we are having fun.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Costume-Design Secrets About Cate Blanchett's Sumptuous Carol Wardrobes
Carole and Therese: fashion opposites
For Carol, Powell looked to Vogue, Harpers, and other high-fashion magazines of 1952 and 1953—the exact years in which the film was set—to find the severe silhouettes, luxe fabrics, and elegant accessories that would immediately establish Blanchetts character as the sophisticated elder in the films central relationship. For Therese, a temporary department store saleswoman and aspiring photographer, Powell studied street photos of the era to see how everyday people were dressing in more blue collar-lives—“most people looked like throwbacks from the 1940s”—and accentuated her youth with accessories like headbands.
Costuming Carol and Thereses meet-cute
“The book originally had Carol wearing a fur coat in this scene, which obviously denotes luxury and wealth,” Powell explains. “I needed her to be spotted across a crowded department store and stand out from everybody else, but not in a way that looked out of place. I chose a fur coat—made from vintage blonde mink fur—that worked with [Blanchett]s coloring, with the coral color of the scarf and the hat as highlights.”
“Therese is basically wearing something that is tantamount to a uniform—a low-key dress and sweater in muted tones. I looked at images of what department store sales assistants wore because we thought it might be a uniform [but we] realized that the only people who wore uniforms at that time were the people on the beauty counters.”
Thereses aesthetic
“I chose Thereses clothes for practicality and comfort. At the beginning of the film, dressing up and her appearance are not really her main priority. She doesn't look terrible—she's actually wearing the clothing that was quite popular amongst young people, sort of creative types, at that time. She's come from a sort of slightly bohemian background. We assume she's been to art school before.”
Creating Carols 1950s silhouette from vintage undergarments
“Carol wears restricting designs that have structured undergarments underneath—waist cinchers, girdles, and bras included—to give her the silhouette” that was in vogue in the 1950s, Powell explains. “The undergarments actually changed peoples figures so that, just as much as the clothing, the shapes were fashionable.”
Somewhat incredibly, Powell was able to track down original undergarments from the period that fit Blanchett and Mara: “We did actually manage to find bras that were original bras from the period that worked for all of our actresses. . .I made waist cinchers, but generally you can find things still that were original, or you can adapt contemporary underwear to make it the right shape.”
The trickiest Carol costume
Powell says that one of her favorite pieces from the film, which happened to be one of the most difficult to design, is the suit that Carol wears to lunch with Therese. The reason: it has to be both functional for the afternoon and then for the black-tie party she attends with Harge (Kyle Chandler), where the rest of the women are wearing gowns.
“I had to design one of those outfits that goes from day seamlessly into night,” Powell says. “Carol has the jacket on when she's with Therese—so it looks like a jacket and skirt suit. When the jacket comes off, she's got the dress with the slightly low-cut back, so when she's dancing it looks more evening-like, even though it isn't a gown, which is why Harge's mother is disapproving of her. . . Wearing a cocktail-length dress to such a formal party is her little act of rebellion.”
Thereses style evolution
“She really does go on a journey of self discovery. It's a few months in her life where she suddenly goes from being a young girl to a woman. She has to cope with the loss of Carol in the separation during which time she has to get her act together and get her life together. She gets the job at the New York Times and I wanted to convey that she had moved on by assuming that she had spent her first wage packet on her first grownup outfit, which was the dress that she wears at the end. She gets a haircut too, and that's all sort of inspired by Carol.”
Dressing the supporting characters
“Todd provided a kind of scrapbook/look book of images at the very beginning of the film for everybody, all of the creatives involved, which included a lot of street photography which is really useful for a lot of the background people and the smaller characters and the people who aren't meant to be high fashion.”PreviousNext
Carole and Therese: fashion opposites
For Carol, Powell looked to Vogue, Harpers, and other high-fashion magazines of 1952 and 1953—the exact years in which the film was set—to find the severe silhouettes, luxe fabrics, and elegant accessories that would immediately establish Blanchetts character as the sophisticated elder in the films central relationship. For Therese, a temporary department store saleswoman and aspiring photographer, Powell studied street photos of the era to see how everyday people were dressing in more blue collar-lives—“most people looked like throwbacks from the 1940s”—and accentuated her youth with accessories like headbands.
Costuming Carol and Thereses meet-cute
“The book originally had Carol wearing a fur coat in this scene, which obviously denotes luxury and wealth,” Powell explains. “I needed her to be spotted across a crowded department store and stand out from everybody else, but not in a way that looked out of place. I chose a fur coat—made from vintage blonde mink fur—that worked with [Blanchett]s coloring, with the coral color of the scarf and the hat as highlights.”
“Therese is basically wearing something that is tantamount to a uniform—a low-key dress and sweater in muted tones. I looked at images of what department store sales assistants wore because we thought it might be a uniform [but we] realized that the only people who wore uniforms at that time were the people on the beauty counters.”
Thereses aesthetic
“I chose Thereses clothes for practicality and comfort. At the beginning of the film, dressing up and her appearance are not really her main priority. She doesn't look terrible—she's actually wearing the clothing that was quite popular amongst young people, sort of creative types, at that time. She's come from a sort of slightly bohemian background. We assume she's been to art school before.”
Creating Carols 1950s silhouette from vintage undergarments
“Carol wears restricting designs that have structured undergarments underneath—waist cinchers, girdles, and bras included—to give her the silhouette” that was in vogue in the 1950s, Powell explains. “The undergarments actually changed peoples figures so that, just as much as the clothing, the shapes were fashionable.”
Somewhat incredibly, Powell was able to track down original undergarments from the period that fit Blanchett and Mara: “We did actually manage to find bras that were original bras from the period that worked for all of our actresses. . .I made waist cinchers, but generally you can find things still that were original, or you can adapt contemporary underwear to make it the right shape.”
Carol's accessories
Powell accessorized Blanchett with estate jewelry lent to the production by Fred Leighton and Van Cleef, and Arpels; vintage handbags; bespoke hats; shoes custom-made by Ferragamo based on their original 1940s and 1950s patterns; and newly-constructed leather gloves to match her character's shoes. (Explains Powell, hand and foot sizes are much larger today than they were in the 1950s, meaning it would have been impossible to dress the Oscar winner in original gloves and shoes.)©2015 The Weinstein Company. All rights reserved.
The trickiest Carol costume
Powell says that one of her favorite pieces from the film, which happened to be one of the most difficult to design, is the suit that Carol wears to lunch with Therese. The reason: it has to be both functional for the afternoon and then for the black-tie party she attends with Harge (Kyle Chandler), where the rest of the women are wearing gowns.
“I had to design one of those outfits that goes from day seamlessly into night,” Powell says. “Carol has the jacket on when she's with Therese—so it looks like a jacket and skirt suit. When the jacket comes off, she's got the dress with the slightly low-cut back, so when she's dancing it looks more evening-like, even though it isn't a gown, which is why Harge's mother is disapproving of her. . . Wearing a cocktail-length dress to such a formal party is her little act of rebellion.”
Thereses style evolution
“She really does go on a journey of self discovery. It's a few months in her life where she suddenly goes from being a young girl to a woman. She has to cope with the loss of Carol in the separation during which time she has to get her act together and get her life together. She gets the job at the New York Times and I wanted to convey that she had moved on by assuming that she had spent her first wage packet on her first grownup outfit, which was the dress that she wears at the end. She gets a haircut too, and that's all sort of inspired by Carol.”
Dressing the supporting characters
“Todd provided a kind of scrapbook/look book of images at the very beginning of the film for everybody, all of the creatives involved, which included a lot of street photography which is really useful for a lot of the background people and the smaller characters and the people who aren't meant to be high fashion.”
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Vanity Fair
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