How Long Is “Hannah Free”?

Claudia Allen adapts her own play detailing the decades-long love affair between a butch lesbian and a religious housewife for the screen in a film directed by Wendy Jo Carlton. The story begins in a nursing home, where an elderly Hannah (Sharon Gless) has been forbidden from visiting Rachel, the love of her life. Rachel is in a coma, and since Hannah is not family, she is refused entrance into her longtime lover's room. As Hannah's memories drift gently back into the past, she recalls her relationship with Rachel, which began when they were just young girls. Just when it begins to look as if Hannah will never see Rachel again, a sympathetic student offers to help her circumvent the traditional hospital rules regarding visitors. In the process of attempting to get one last glimpse of her beloved, however, Hannah is forced to come to terms with the fact that Rachel's view of their relationship wasn't all roses.