Moonstruck

**Moonstruck** is a 1987 film starring Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis and Danny Aiello, directed by Norman Jewison, written by John Patrick Shanley and produced by Jewison and Patrick J. Palmer.

## Plot

Thirty-seven-year-old Loretta Castorini, an Italian-American widow, lives in Brooklyn Heights, New York, with her family: father Cosmo; mother Rose; and paternal grandfather. Her boyfriend, Johnny Cammareri, proposes to her before leaving for Sicily to be with his dying mother; Loretta is insistent that they carefully follow tradition as she believes her first marriage was cursed by her failure to do so, resulting in her husband's death after two years. Johnny asks Loretta to invite his estranged younger brother Ronny to the wedding. Loretta returns home and informs her parents of the engagement. Cosmo dislikes Johnny and is reluctant to pay for the "real" wedding that Loretta insists on, while Rose is pleased that Loretta likes Johnny but does not love him; she believes that one can easily be hurt by a partner whom one loves.

When Loretta goes to see Ronny at his bakery, he reveals that he has a wooden prosthetic hand and blames Johnny for his loss in a moment of inattention, after which his fiancée left him. Loretta insists that they discuss things in his apartment, where she cooks a meal and then tells him that she believes he is a "wolf" who cut off his own hand to escape the trap of a bad relationship. Ronny reacts furiously and passionately, kissing Loretta and then carrying her to his bed where they make love.

That evening, Rose's brother Raymond and his wife Rita join Rose and Cosmo for dinner and they wonder where Loretta is. Raymond recalls a particularly bright moon like the one shining now that he thought long-ago was brought to the house when Cosmo was courting Rose. The next morning, Loretta tells Ronny they can never see each other again but agrees to go with him to the opera (his other great love) that night. She then goes to church and confesses her infidelity and afterwards calls at Raymond and Rita's store to close out the cash register. On leaving, she impulsively goes to the hair salon and buys a glamorous evening gown and shoes.

Loretta is deeply moved by her first opera, Puccini's La bohème. But as they leave, she sees Cosmo together with his girlfriend Mona and confronts her father. Since Loretta is with Ronny, he suggests that they agree that they did not see each other at all. Loretta had meant to return home, but Ronny desperately persuades her into another tryst. That same night, Rose decides to dine alone at a restaurant and sees a college professor, Perry, being dramatically dumped by a female student. Rose invites him to dine with her instead, allowing him to walk her home but refusing to invite him in "because I’m married". Later, Johnny unexpectedly returns from Sicily after his mother's "miraculous" recovery and calls at the house; since Loretta is not there, Rose asks him instead why men chase women and agrees that it is because they fear death.

Returning home next morning, Loretta is distressed to learn from Rose that Johnny will be there soon. But it is Ronny that arrives, and Rose invites him for breakfast over Loretta's objections. Cosmo and his father emerge from upstairs, and the older man insists that Cosmo agree to pay for Loretta's wedding. Rose then confronts Cosmo and demands that he end his affair; he is upset but gives in and, at Rose’s insistence, also agrees to go to confession. Both then affirm their love for each other. Now Raymond and Rita arrive, concerned that Loretta had not deposited the previous day's takings at the bank, and are relieved to learn that she merely forgot and still has the money. When Johnny finally arrives, he breaks off the engagement, superstitiously believing that their marriage would cause his mother's death. Loretta berates Johnny for breaking his promise and throws the engagement ring at him. Seizing the moment, Ronny borrows the ring and asks Loretta to marry him, to which she agrees. The family toasts the couple with champagne and Johnny joins in at the grandfather's urging, since he will now be part of the family after all.