Although the film underperformed both critically and commercially at the time of its release, winning five Golden Raspberry Awards and tying with Howard the Duck for Worst Picture, its associated soundtrack album Parade sold over a million copies and achieved platinum status.
Christopher works as a piano player at the Venus de Milo nightclub in Nice and, along with Tricky, spends his days identifying rich women to target in order to gain large amounts of money via marriage.
Christopher is in an informal relationship with wealthy divorced spinster Mrs. Wellington, while Tricky is romantically involved with their landlady, Katy, who is threatening to evict them unless they pay two months of back rent.
One day, while reading the front page of the local newspaper, Tricky notices that heiress Mary Sharon is approaching her 21st birthday and will thus inherit a $50 million trust fund established by her father Isaac, a shipping magnate.
Christopher attracts Mary's attention, but quickly learns that her father has arranged for her to be engaged to Jonathan Donahue, an employee of his, to consolidate the fortunes of two powerful families.
Christopher performs "Girls & Boys", but Isaac, alerted to Mary's presence by a maître d', interrupts the song, takes her home and orders his associates, including his bodyguard Lou, to do background checks on the duo.
She announces in a letter delivered to him by Katy that she will visit in a few months' time to check on the status of their investment, but is progressing past her experiences with Christopher, vowing never to forget him for as long as she is alive.
The success of 1984's film Purple Rain saw Prince becoming one of the biggest stars in the world, leading to a blank cheque situation in which Warner Bros quickly greenlit Under the Cherry Moon.
The opening introduction scene features a piano accompaniment (later credited as "An Honest Man" although it is not related to the acapella track of the same name included on the Crystal Ball compilation).
The scene where Mary and Christopher dance on the restaurant balcony was accompanied by "Alexa de Paris", later featured as a B-side on the 1986 release of "Mountains" and Prince's 1994 single "Letitgo".
"[15] Kevin Lally in The Courier-News called the film one of the worst of the year, "the kind of embarrassment that makes your mouth gape", adding that viewing Nice in black and white was akin to watching Lawrence of Arabia on a Sony Watchman.
"[17] Tom Sabulis in the Evening Express conceded the film had "(successfully) evoked an aura of nostalgia for the Hollywood movies of the 1940s... in glorious black and white", but concluded it was an "illogical, confusing and formless mish-mash" and "an annoying exercise in narcissism.
[19] One dissenting perspective came from Joe Baltake, who considered Under the Cherry Moon "the boldest, most unique film of the summer" with a "timelessness, a feeling of being out-of-place with itself, that is hugely affecting."
The site's consensus states: "Under the Cherry Moon may satisfy the most rabid Prince fans, but everyone else will be better served with this vanity project's far superior soundtrack.
"[25] Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, writing for SBS On Demand, called the film "a cinematic manifestation of Prince's impish smile come to life, played out on screen in 100 glorious (but not always coherent) minutes", comparing it to Frederico Fellini's 8½.
"[27] Sobczynski, Goble, Asch and Sales all suggested that the film's initial negative critical reception may have been due to audiences expecting something more similar to Purple Rain.