Moonstruck

Movie
German title	Moonstruck
Original title	Moonstruck
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1987
length	102 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Norman Jewison
script	John Patrick Shanley
production	Norman Jewison ; Patrick J. Palmer
music	Dick Hyman
camera	David Watkin
cut	Lou Lombardo
occupation
	Cher : Loretta Castorini; Nicolas Cage : Ronny Cammareri; Vincent Gardenia : Cosmo Castorini; Olympia Dukakis : Rose Castorini; Danny Aiello : Johnny Cammareri; Julie Bovasso : Rita Cappomaggi; Louis Guss : Raymond Cappomaggi; Fyodor Chalyapin : Grandfather Castorini; John Mahoney : Mr. Perry; Anita Gillette : Mona; Leonardo Cimino : Felix; Paula Trueman : Lucy; Robert Weil : Bobo, head waiter;

Moonstruck (Original title: Moonstruck ) is an American romantic comedy from director Norman Jewison from the year 1987 with Cher and Nicolas Cage in the lead roles.

The film was a hit at both the box office and critics. He was nominated for six awards at the 1988 Academy Awards, winning them in the categories of Best Actress (Cher), Best Supporting Actress ( Olympia Dukakis ) and Best Original Screenplay ( John Patrick Shanley ).

action

Loretta Castorini ( Cher ), a 37-year-old widow with the first gray streaks in her dark hair, lives in the Italian quarter of the New York district of Brooklyn where she works as an accountant for the small business people of the neighborhood. She firmly believes that her first husband was run over by the bus only because there was only one lightning wedding at the registry office. So when, seven years later , she accepts the marriage proposal of the sedate, somewhat clumsy Johnny Cammareri ( Danny Aiello ), she insists on an engagement ring as well as on a large church wedding. Johnny agrees, but leaves the preparations to Loretta, because he wants to fly to Sicily first to say goodbye to his dying mother. Loretta's parents take the news of the engagement with very mixed feelings. Her father Cosmo ( Vincent Gardenia ) thinks Johnny is "a huge baby" and doesn't like him. Mother Rose ( Olympia Dukakis ) asks Loretta if she loves Johnny - and congratulates her from the bottom of her heart when Loretta explains that she only finds him nice, because: “If you love men, they drive you crazy - just because they know that they can! ”Rose knows what she's talking about; she has every reason to believe that Cosmo is trying to numb his fear of getting old with an extramarital affair.

At Johnny's request, Loretta should also invite his younger brother Ronny ( Nicolas Cage ) to the wedding. The two brothers haven't spoken to each other in five years, but Johnny now wants a reconciliation. Loretta meets Ronny in his bakery. There, between sacks of flour and the blazing embers of old ovens, however, he explains with big words and even bigger gestures that there can never be a reconciliation, since Johnny is the cause of his ruined life: he stood by as Ronny in one Slicer grabbed and lost his left hand. After that his bride left him because she didn't want to live with a "cripple". Loretta is unimpressed and immediately sees through Ronny: the accident was not Johnny's fault, but an unconscious attempt by Ronny to escape a false permanent bond: "You are a wolf and would rather chop off your hand than fall into a trap!" Ronny immediately pays her back with the same coin: he accuses Loretta of throwing herself away at dull Johnny without love and much too cheaply. The argument becomes heated - until the two, overwhelmed by a sudden flare-up of passion, end up in Ronny's bed.

The next morning Loretta doesn't want to know anything more about passion: “We'll take this night to the grave as a secret!” But Ronny only wants to do without her if she goes to the opera with him once, on the same evening. Then in one day he had everything that he loved most in life. Loretta agrees a little bit rough. But then she buys the most exciting dress in town and finally gives her hairdresser permission to dye her gray strands. Ronny can hardly believe his luck when he sees her in the evening. Loretta is also stunned when she meets her father at the opera - with his lover! But because they are both traveling with the “wrong” partner, father and daughter unanimously decide to pretend they have never met. Meanwhile, Mother Rose treats herself to a meal in the family's Italian pub. She meets a university professor ( John Mahoney ) who regularly goes out there with his newest favorite student. His appointments usually end with his all too young companion pouring a glass of water on his face and letting him sit. Rose gives him the advice of her own mother: “Don't fuck where you eat!” Then she invites him to join her at the table. The two talk lively, and when Rose later refuses to invite the professor to her house, she fears less for his modest behavior than for her own. Meanwhile, Loretta and Ronny land on his doorstep again, and this time she also realizes that nothing can come of the cozy marriage of convenience with Johnny: she has fallen hopelessly in love with Ronny.

The story ends when all the protagonists gradually arrive in Rose Castorini's kitchen on the following morning: Loretta, at first, still completely crazy about her night of love; Cosmo to return to his wife; Ronny, to clear the table - and Johnny, freshly back from Palermo, to announce a surprise: he can't possibly marry Loretta because his mother has suddenly recovered and he doesn't want to abandon her now. So Loretta accepts Ronny's marriage proposal and confesses to her mother when asked: "Yes, Ma - I love him terribly!" Which Rose can only comment with "Oh God, what a shame!"

Full moon and music

The full moon is omnipresent in the film: it illuminates the (love) nights of the main and supporting actors; it is played by Dean Martin in the opening credits of the three-quarter time ballad That's Amore , with the refrain "... when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie - that's amore ..." ("when the moon is like a giant pizza in the eyes stings - that's love ... ") sung about; old grandfather Castorini makes his shaggy dogs howl in honor of the moon; and already at the beginning of the film, when Loretta goes to work in the morning, you spot the billboard for a restaurant called “La Luna” (= Italian: the moon) in the street scene. When attending the opera, the decisive love duet from Puccini's La Bohème is presented as a street scene on a full moon night. The original film score rounds off the Italian-romantic mood of the film with a few acoustic instruments (accordion, mandolin, violin).

Reviews

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Heyne Filmlexikon: A splendid comedy that reaches human depths with lusciously drawn and brilliantly played figures and integrates Puccini's bohemian music with virtuosity into the plot.

Lexicon of international film : A love and family story staged with ease and melodramatic gesture, which knows how to play with the clichés of the genre in a lovable way.

Der Spiegel , 12/1988: Norman Jewison's film "Moonstruck" is probably the most beautiful and lightest comedy of the year. An actress who until then, in the eyes of the Hollywood moguls, had the handicap of being a megastar in another industry: Cher, the zebra from the menagerie of pop culture, shines with seemingly effortlessly. With "Moonstruck", Cher, the product, is finally transformed into Cher, the actress.