US | 1986 | Directed by Prince
Logline: A con artist, working as a pianist in the Riveria, attempts to scam a young woman out of her wealthy inheritance, but falls in love along the way.
Prince’s first foray into filmmaking was an abandoned project known as The Second Coming, a drama-documentary incorporating footage from his 1982 Controversy tour with staged vignettes between the songs. A year later he was knee-deep in the production of the Purple Rain album and movie, which became a huge success in 1984. Now Prince had a serious taste for cinema storytelling, and within a year he was entrenched in the making of the Parade album and his first movie as director, Under the Cherry Moon.
There are vanity projects and then there are vanity projects like Under the Cherry Moon, with Prince starring as musician, womaniser, and diehard romantic, also a scam artist and prankster, and a clown to boot. All wrapped up in the extraordinary wardrobe design of Marie France and finished off with Champagne and extravagant facial expressions. Under the Cherry Moon is an opulent disaster, a failed romance, a mostly unfunny buddy flick, and a musical that never really takes off. But, it stars Prince at, arguably, the height of his excess and success, and the music is sensational, even if much of it is just snippets and excerpts from the studio recordings that feature on the Parade album, or the b-sides of the singles.
“Once upon a time in France there lived a bad boy named Christopher Tracy …”
Christopher Tracy (Prince) and his brother (from another mother) Tricky (Jerome Benton) live in Nice, in the south of France, living it up big time as dirty rotten scoundrels, wining, dining (and no doubt sixty-nining) the scores of uber-wealthy women, such as Mrs. Wellington (Francesca Annis), who pass through the Riveria looking for a little love action. The sartorial Lotharios are pretty happy with themselves — “pretty” being the operative word — as both gigolos have their hands full; preening as often as they do courting.
In fact, there is a curious, and rather odd element of homoeroticism that flirts between the blood brothers. They prance and dance around like a couple of immaculate queens, calling each other “honey” and “darling”. Tricky even states he doesn’t need friends, he’s his own man, just like Liberace, while Prince pulls more duck faces than an iGen influencer trying to take a selfie. The narcissism is rampant. But this is the imp’s style [Ed: maybe it’s the movie’s biggest scam?] Anyone watching Under the Cherry Moon looking for serious drama and smoldering romance has come to the wrong town, this is, indeed, a “comedy” of manners (read: “wrecka stow”).
Mary Sharon (Kristen Scott Thomas) is about to celebrate her lavish 21st birthday, and is set to inherit $50 million smackeroos. Christopher and Tricky learn of the event and gate-crash the party with the intention of wooing Mary and swindling her wealth. The brothers each vie for Mary’s attention, but it’s Christopher who wins her affection, and promptly falls head-over-four-inch-heels. Mary’s father, Isaac (Steven Berkoff), is not impressed, and he makes certain Christopher doesn’t elope with his naive daughter.
Christopher drives a huge white Buick convertible with the numberplate “LOVE”, and claims that he does nothing professionally, only things for the sheer fun of it. At the Venus De Milo club he sits at a K. Kawai grand and tickles the ivories, playing An Honest Man. He tangoes Mary on the club balcony to the crooning guitar of Alexa De Paris, he makes love to her on a coastal retreat to the sweet breeze of Mountains.
Mary Lambert, at that stage only known for a couple of promo clips for Madonna, was the movie’s original director, but Prince had her fired after a week over creative differences. Warner Brothers felt comfortable with their star taking over the reigns. Apparently cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (who shot the magnificent monochrome for Scorsese’s Raging Bull) supervised much of the mise-en-scene and camerawork, uncredited, while certainly the movie’s editors, Éva Gárdos and Rebecca Ross, would’ve had their work cut out for them in post, trying to make sense of the director’s indulgences.
I’m curious about the screenplay (original draft vs. shooting script). It’s credited to Becky Johnston, and it was her first produced screenplay. She went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for The Prince of Tides, but I wonder just how much influence Prince would’ve had, even though he isn’t credited with the story or any of the screenwriting? Indeed, it's easy to pull Under the Cherry Moon's screenplay to shreds, but script aside, the performances are all over the show. Prince and Jerome appear to be simply playing themselves, and relishing it. Kristen Scott Thomas had nothing good to say about her debut experience in the years that followed. Originally it was Prince’s then fiancée, Susannah Melvoin, who was cast in the role of Mary, but it was quickly apparent that she lacked the acting chops. While it’s obvious Kristen struggles with much of her ripe dialogue, her stilted delivery is nowhere near as wooden as Steven Berkoff. Terence Stamp was originally cast as Isaac, but he quit two weeks into production. ‘Tis a pity, but understandable.
Under the Cherry Moon is a movie strictly for Prince fans, and in that purple glow it shines brightly. There’s a small booty of Prince treasures waiting to be discovered; spotting Sheila E.’s Sister Fate record cover in Christopher Tracy’s bedroom, trying to locate the Old Friends 4 Sale cue (it’s listed in the end song credits, but seemingly to no avail), or watching how many times Christopher Tracy drinks (Prince famously never drinks).
And, let’s not avoid mentioning one of the most hideous kisses in screen history when Christopher plants his chimp lips on Mary in the phone booth and smooches away like there’s no tomorrow. Ewwwww!
But hey, it's the 30th anniversary of Under the Cherry Moon this week, and Prince passed away only a couple of months ago. I'm still mourning.
“We had fun, didn’t we?”