OTHER TITLES: MUJERES BAJO LA LUNA (Spanish for WOMEN BENEATH THE MOON); MOONLIGHT LOVE (Chinese/Mandarin)
R for nudity, a couple of uses of the F word, and adult themes
When I first saw this movie in July of 1997, I sort of liked it and sort of disliked it. But as the years went by, I've decided it's one of the most charming movies I have in my voluminous collection. Released in theatres in October of 1995, it was dismissed as "just another chick flick" by most critics and audiences and all but forgotten. It's not a big action movie with testosterone and dynamite, and it's not a teen movie with the same silly lineup of twenty something actors playing high school Barbies and Kens. It's just a wonderful little dramedy about how sudden loss turns a woman's life upside down.
If the way this movie unfolds seems unlike most, it's because MOONLIGHT AND VALENTINO is based on a stageplay by Ellen Simon (daughter of the great playwright Neil Simon). Many audiences did and will find this film slow, not enough action, and too boring...which in essence means that most audiences don't like movies without nonstop action, explosions and brain dead one liners. MOONLIGHT AND VALENTINO is a story that relies heavily on both dialogue and non verbal acting.
Elizabeth Perkins (BIG, CATS AND DOGS, MY SISTER'S KEEPER) heads a sparkling all star cast in Moonlight And Valentino and is the central character. She plays Rebecca Lott, a professor of poetry at a New York University. Her husband, Ben, is a professor of astrophysics. They own a lovely old fashioned house near a lake in a very nice neighborhood far from the bustling big city.
The story starts with a subtle bang, but before that, we get a quick glimpse of Rebecca's life, which seems very well rounded...happily married, successful and fulfilled. Her best friend Sylvie Morrow (Whoopi Goldberg) is a sculptor and only lives down the road a ways. She is still friends with her ex-mom in law, Alberta (Kathleen Turner) who is a hotshot executive on Wall Street and rides around in a limo. She also has a younger sister to whom she is very close, Lucy (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Then suddenly, tragedy strikes. Ben, who loves to jog in the morning before dressing and heading off to the university, is struck by a car and killed. It happens so abruptly and so unexpectedly that Rebecca is knocked for a loop. It's as though this awful sudden event has physically hit her like a club. It's so interesting to watch Perkins in this role. It's almost like a tour de force, a one woman show. Her eyes wavering with tears, she rebuff's Sylvie's attempts to comfort her, wanders around the house seeking a "room that feel's right", and bravely withstands Alberta's somewhat overbearing personality. Although you aren't quite sure why she's so snappy to Sylvie and so submissive to Alberta, you totally believe everything Rebecca is doing. She is completely mentally exhausted and overwhelmed by what has happened. Her performance is like a vividly colorful painted portrait of what TRUE mourning is like. Instead of crying and getting it all out, Rebecca remains bumfuddled about the entire event. Sudden death is very unlike the death you wait, even pray for. Ben was a young man, in his prime. Not the same scenario had he been a guy with terminal cancer or an elderly patient with Altzheimer's Disease.
Rebecca buries her husband and begins the road of uncertainty ahead. Apparently, she earns enough money to keep the house and car, as nothing is mentioned about that kind of thing, but even though she understands that Ben is gone, she can't seem to let go of something.
The weeks pass, and Rebecca continues to mourn. As her friends and family do their best to offer comfort, we get to know them as well, and they offer interesting sub-plots to this story which, if entirely focuses on Rebecca, would have gotten a bit tedious. Sylvie's marriage to her husband Paul (an unbilled Peter Coyote) is crumbling, and Sylvie is constantly talking about saving the marriage and how it's tearing her to pieces that Paul might leave her. Alberta and Lucy do not like one another because Alberta thinks Lucy is an anorexic, neurotic depressive who needs serious therapy, and since Lucy wears only BLACK and goes around with a sullen pout 99.9% of the time, one is hard pressed not to agree with Alberta. Lucy on the other hand, thinks Alberta is an overbearing, meddling twit who is TOO outspoken and abrupt. We also find out that Lucy painfully misses their real mom, who died of lung cancer years ago. The crazy thing is, Lucy smokes heavily herself.
A few months after Ben's passing, change begins to take place. Around the time of Rebecca's birthday, Alberta hires someone to paint her house "a fresh new color". Rebecca doesn't think a new coat of paint is necessary, but overbearing Alberta has her way of course, and an unexpected friendship appears in Rebecca's life as the result. Meanwhile, Lucy finds herself on a "blind date" with one of Rebecca's students, a strange boy named Steven (Jeremy Sisto) who wears all black clothing and kooky hats and writes the most...ahem...unusual poetry Rebecca has ever read.
And Sylvie finally realizes why her marriage is failing, and that it takes two to tango.
Just a story about life this is. Life is constantly changing. Bad things happen, good things happen. Rebecca loses someone she dearly loves, tries to adjust to the loss and face the future without him, finds herself unable to let go, and finally, after TIME, she figures out what has been bothering her, deals with it and lets it go, in in that process, finds someone new to love. Sylvia accepts that her marriage is over and wonders how SHE is going to face a different kind of life. Lucy and Alberta realize that they totally have misunderstood one another for years and that although Alberta will never replace the real mother, Lucy is wrong to not at least give her a chance to be her friend. And Lucy, who has kept a multitude of fears and insecurities hidden behind her black clothing and severe demeanor, finally realizes that unless she tries to come out of hiding and face those fears, she may never have a chance at love in her life.
A sweetly moving story if you give it a chance, filled with characters that are flawed...grumpy, bristling, overbearing, whining, self asorbed, eccentric, yet completely charming and lovable all the same. A very quiet movie with some really lovely scenery if you're in the mood for something calm and serene.
The Cast:
Elizabeth Perkins as REBECCA LOTT
Gwyneth Paltrow as LUCY TRAGER
Whoopi Goldberg as SYLVIA MORROW
Kathleen Turner as ALBERTA
Peter Coyote as PAUL MORROW
Jeremy Sisto as STEVEN
Jon Bon Jovi as THE PAINTER
and Trim as VALENTINO
LINKS
A decent review by Edwin Jahiel
Jon Bon Jovi In The Movies A Bon Jovi Fansite with more MOONLIGHT reviews!
CNN.com Movie info and a clip
BACK to SISTO ACT
Review by Mari Weir July 2001
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