62. Moonstruck

Subplots.

The main plot of the movie concerns Cher's character, a bookkeeping Italian widow who believes she is cursed to be unlucky in love. She gets a proposal from her longtime suitor, played by Danny Aiello. He has to visit his dying mother back in Sicily, and they will marry when he returns. In the meantime, can she go see his estranged brother and invite him to the wedding?

Sure she can, and while she does that, let's find out what the subplots are. The first concerns Cher's father, who we find out has a mistress who he regales with tales of his plumbing work. We find out about this affair just before Cher's affair with her fiancee's brother, which lessens the blow. This main plot and subplot come together at the opera, at Puccini at the Met, when Cher discovers her father with his mistress, and he discovers her with her fiancee's brother. This is a subplot that compliments the main plot.

At the same time, Cher's mother is having dinner alone, seeing as how her husband is out with another woman. Her subplot involves her stumbling into a dinner with a cad, a college professor who can't stop bedding his students. They have a lovely time together and he walks her home. He tries to invite himself in, repeatedly. She declines: "I'm married, and I know who I am." This is the anti-thesis.

And that's all you need to do with subplot. Find the theme and the action of the main plot, and either compare or contrast (or compare AND contrast) that main arc of action with your subplots, and you've got it.