Under the Cherry Moon

Prince’s misunderstood black-and-white follow-up to Purple Rain looks – and sounds – glorious when seen on an original print.

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  • Director

    Prince

  • With

    Prince, Jerome Benton, Kristin Scott Thomas, Steven Berkoff

  • USA 1986. 100min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    15

Released to a hostile reception in the midst of the dizzyingly prolific period between the all-conquering Purple Rain and the artistic peak of Sign O’ the Times, Prince’s second feature now offers a fascinating insight into his mindset during the white-hot flush of his most creative era. Where Purple Rain was all ’80s neon, here the setting is an anachronistic fantasy of the 1940s French Riviera, with Prince as pianist and gigolo-on-the-make Christopher Tracy, who reassesses his philandering ways when he falls for rich girl Mary (a scene-stealing Scott Thomas, in her debut feature). The music is outstanding, but the film, as messily imperfect as it is, is also ripe for reappraisal, with Michael Ballhaus’ monochrome cinematography particularly striking on this pristine original-release print.

James Bell