Pretty Baby

Plot synopsis:
This film is partly based on an interview with an actual child prostitute that worked in New Orleans during the early 20th century as found in the book "Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District" by Al Rose.The movie opens with eleven-year-old Violet (played by a 12-year-old Brooke Shields) watching the birth of her baby brother. This echoes her own beginnings as the daughter of prostitute Hattie (Susan Sarandon) and an unknown client. Violet is one of several children living at Madam Nell's (Frances Faye) swanky New Orleans brothel in 1917.Early one morning photographer Bellocq (Keith Carradine) comes calling looking for a model. Hattie poses for him while Violet watches. At first Bellocq finds Violets inquisitive nature a bother, but after a while he starts to like her. Violet seems fascinated by Bellocq as he never seems to want to have sex with the girls, but just photograph them.Even given her tender years Violet has been become part of the brothel business. She is playing in one of the upstairs bedrooms when her mother brings a client in telling him that Violet is a virgin and only for "French." Hattie indicates Violet is to follow them back to her room where Hattie climbs on the bed and starts to undress and the client drops his pants and sits down. It is clear that Violet is expected to stimulate him orally. With the resigned sigh of someone who has already done this too many times Violet enters the room, closes the door and the scene ends.When Violet turns 12 arrangements are made to auction off her virginity. Nell gives a dinner party for her best clients during which Violet, dressed only in a sheer, see-though gown is paraded around the table on a platter as the madam announces the auction. A few minutes later, redressed in a white party dress, Violet stands in the parlor while the men of the house bid on her. The winner (Don Lutenbacher), then carries Violet up to a bedroom. A short scream announces the loss of her virginity and we see her client hurriedly depart from the house. When the other girls check on Violet they find her motionless lying across the bed and fear the worst. She breaks out laughing and we realize she is only joking with them, though she winces when she sits up, telling us that her initiation into womanhood has not been completely painless.Violet now becomes a regular part of the brothel lineup, though not always at her convenience. She is interrupted mid-bath by Madam Nell who wants to show her to a rough-looking farmer customer (Hobe May). (This scene involved nudity for Shields and is one of the more controversial in the film).One day Hattie's client/ boyfriend, Alfred Fuller (Don Hood) announces he is moving Hattie and her baby son to St. Louis where he will marry her. His plans don't include Violet as Hattie in her vanity has told him Violet is her younger sister. Hattie promises Violet at the right time she will break the news to him and send for her. Hattie leaves and Bellocq complains to Nell about Violet being left alone. Nell's response is that Violet is now making plenty of money on her own and the only reason Bellocq is concerned is that he has fallen in love with her, something he vehemently denies.Violet misbehaves and Nell orders the bartender (Henry Braden) to take her to woodshed and discipline her. We hear the beating after which a defiant Violet emerges and declares to Nell, "It didnt hurt!" When she turns away though we see the whipping was violent enough to shred her nightgown and we can see her bare bottom.This incident causes Violet to leave the brothel and move in with Bellocq. He is opposed to the idea at first but Violet uses her feminine charms to convince him to let her stay. However, she soon becomes bored of just being his photography model and he is not yet prepared to deal with her childishness. After one long nude photography session (This scene involved frontal nudity for Shields and is also highly controversial) they fight and in revenge Violet scratches some of the Belloca's valuable negatives and he throws her out of the house.Violet returns to the brothel, but it is clear that things are not going well there. The Navy has pressured the city into closing the district. At Nell's house items are being sold off one-by-one and the girls are making arrangements to find other places to live. Violet packs her things too, but before she can get far Bellocq arrives, tells Violet he is going to marry her and she agrees. Though a girl as young as Violet usually needs her parents permission to marry it is allowed because she has been abandoned. Violet, the girls and Bellocq celebrate with a picnic along the river.One morning at Bellocq's house after about two weeks of marriage it is clear that Violet has not quite adapted perfectly to the role of a wife as all she seems to do is have sex and sleep, but it is clear that Bellocq still loves her. Violet and Bellocq's breakfast is interrupted when Hattie and her new husband arrive. They demand that Violet come with them and join them in St. Louis as part of a "proper" family. Violet is torn between Bellocq and her mother, but as her mother has the firmer legal claim, Violet has little choice but to go with her. At the station her new step-father attempts to take a family portrait of his wife and her son and daughter, but it is clear from Violet's expression that Violet wonders if she can ever go back to being just a child after having lived as an adult.

Tags: cult

Review:
I'd like to point out that this movie is literally based on first hand recollections of a prostitute interviewed in Al Rose's definitive book on the subject: "Storyville", published many years ago.
These photographs are hauntingly beautiful in their own right, and the young Brooke Shields--as well as the beautiful Susan Sarandon--were a masterstroke of Malle to play the parts of mother and daughter prostitutes.
Not mentioned-- but inferred to those who "read between the lines"-- was that the pony that young Violet casually rides in the backyard of the mansion in the beginning of the movie was actually an animal used to entertain the paying customers in "the circus" that certain women performed in ...for the"right price." Many of the photo sessions depicted in the film are loving recreations of surviving Bellocq prints.
Remarkeably, overlooked altogether is any mention of the composer of the tune "Pretty Baby," Professor Tony Jackson, a key figure of the Storyville saga, who should have been the character portrayed in the film but wasn't, and who was not even mentioned in the credits.As for Bellocq himself not much is known except that he was slightly deformed and not interested in the ladies at all sexually-- the marriage to Violet merely a modern plot device--but he professed his deep fascination and reverence for them, thankfully, in other ways: his portraits.
I would urge all critics of this movie to seek out a copy of "Storyville, New Orleans" by Al Rose, or MOMA's "E.J. Bellocq: Storyville Portraits." They will really open yours eyes to what Louis Malle has recreated..
A beautifully filmed movie which tells a difficult story with a subtlety and power that leaves you thinking about it during odd moments for days.
I wasn't bothered by the story either and I feel the movie accurately portrayed a different time with a quite different moral tone than the one we live with today.
Actually, I think the main reason this movie works is because it comes across as honest, it feels like being in another place and another time, and it's lovely to see..
At the time of its release, PRETTY BABY attracted a lot of controversy for its subject matter and matter-of-fact nudity of pre-teen Brook Shields (Violet).Now it would probably not get made at all -- which is a shame, because it's a solidly written and directed drama.The late Louis Malle, who also directed the amazing BLACK MOON, approaches the subject of child prostitution without judgement or moralizing.
Malle captures glances, body language, reflections and uses the non-verbal to tell his very human story of a New Orleans cathouse.Susan Sarandon, as Violet's prostitute mother, turns in a fine performance as a woman in denial of her reality.
He begins and ends the film with the camera slowly closing in on the wide eyes of its child-lead, making you wonder how her life will proceed, having seen what she's seen.
For those not carried away by Shields' appearance, this made the film very poignant -- this child doesn't even know that there is any other way to live.
However, those who will not succumb to the possible knee-jerk and reactionary "puritanical outrage" that some of the imagery might invoke and can understand how it significantly contributes to the story itself, will come to witness an interesting and beautifully toned glimpse into the final days of legal prostitution within the red light district of pre 1920s New Orleans.A young Brooke Shields delivers a convincing, yet subtle and sincere performance as Violet, the underage prostitute whom the story centers around.
J. Bellocq (who was an actual photographer of the time that captured images of the prostitutes in this particular district) was an excellent incorporation into the storyline and adds a certain sense of credibility to the film, in relation to it being set within the particular era.The additional acting talents of Susan Sarandon and Antonio Fargas also do well in bringing this tale, based on the true accounts of a young New Orleans prostitute who worked in the actual Storyville district, to life.It's so authentic in it's "flavor" in fact that it won the "Technical Grand Prize" at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.This sad and true to life film guides us through not only a more primitive time in American history; one when many children (not only those subject to lives of prostitution) failed to even have the option of any childhood at all, but through the eyes of innocence and all the love and beauty and memories that those eyes found even within what many would only see as the most unforgivable of environments for innocence, or even hope.It's through THOSE eyes one must look to see the true beauty and love that went into the crafting of this historically memorable film..
The fact of the matter is, this is a true story and people should watch it, even if only to realise how grateful we should be for not living in times like that, for growing up in times where we are actually given a choice..
In 1917, in the red light district Storyville, New Orleans, the prostitute Hattie (Susan Sarandon) lives with her twelve year-old daughter Violet (Brooke Shields) in the fancy brothel of Madame Nell (Frances Faye), where she works.
Until the day that Hattie, who has overcome her past, comes to Bellocq's house with the intention to take Violet with her."Pretty Baby" is one of the boldest coming of age film, even thirty-four years after its release date.
The story of a very young prostitute, apparently based on a true story, is supported by the beauty of the only promising Brooke Shields, great cast, magnificent cinematography and the talent of Louis Malle that keeps the film in the level of art and never vulgar.
The atmosphere in the brothel scenes was the best thing about the movie, probably helped by the fact that the photographer Bellocq's real photographs were used to get a sense of the time and place and evoke it with authenticity.
This little girl is made into a prostitute with the blessing of her own mother, her virginity is auctioned off, and the movie treats the whole thing matter-of-factly instead of as the tragedy that it is.
I'm not even sure why I'm recommending this movie.Actually, now that I think about it, I think I like the fact that the film allows me to be disturbed on my own rather than hitting me over the head and telling me how I should feel (as Hollywood always does).
At the beginning of Louis Malle's "Pretty Baby", there's a tight shot on Brooke Shields' baby face: she's watching something with interest and we hear a woman moaning just in front of her.
Carradine--who has one sullen expression to express every emotion--and the inexperienced Shields are a monotonous pair; these characters (along with Brooke's mother, an unblushing Red Light district prostitute played by Susan Sarandon) provide no passion, no emotion.
I think "Pretty Baby" is the kind of flick that some movie connoisseurs will feel compelled to say they like.
Since this was the one where then 12-year-old Brooke Shields played a girl raised in a brothel where her mom Susan Sarandon worked, I wondered how I'd react to some scenes where Ms. Shields was about to be deflowered by a middle-aged man or some of her nude scenes.
Certainly, since I live about a two-hour drive from where this all took place and was filmed in, it raised my awareness of what things were like there in the early 20th century and makes me want to learn more about it.
Anyway, Pretty Baby should not be condemned as child pornography as like I said, there's no erotically explicit scenes of sex and it's not the only thing it's about anyway.
Brooke Shields became a household name for her performance as twelve year old Violet, a prostitute's daughter, raised in a New Orleans whorehouse.
Brooke Shields' Violet is the pretty baby who is surrounded by sex and knows nothing else.
Nell says "there are two things to do in New Orleans on a rainy day and I don't like to play bridge!" Is a classic film line.
Set during the final weeks of legal prostitution in Storyville, New Orleans, the whorehouse ran by the ageing Madame Nell (Frances Faye) is quietly coming to an end.
Ernest Bellocq (Keith Carradine), a real-life photographer who took the famous Storyville prostitute portraits, arrives and takes an special interest in the beautiful Hattie (Susan Sarandon), and her 12-year old daughter Violet (Brooke Shields).
As the men queue up for Violet, Bellocq also becomes enamoured with her, and the two start a strange love affair.For such a monstrously ugly subject, Pretty Baby is a strikingly beautiful film.
Minor details such as the peeling paint on the window ledges and the layers of dust on the bookshelves adds an authenticity rarely seen.The film was extremely controversial in its day (and would still be if it was released today) for its full-frontal nudity of a 12-year old Brooke Shields.
The lack of emotion is amazing, but if you were "in the business" at the time, I can't imagine how thick-skinned a madam would have to have been.This movie is more than surface-level entertainment, it documents the socio-economic and psychological aspects of prostitution in 1917 without being dry.I would watch it again because there is so much going on I'm sure I missed something while I was fixated on the sets and costumes.Highly recommended.
Keith Carradine and Susan Sarandon are both are ineffectual, working quite weak characters, but young Brook Shields does a great job in the lead role, fleshing out an excellent character.
This is the first time I watched this movie and although it was entertaining I don't think it depicted the real world of prostitution, especially the part of Brooke Shields.
This movie is famous for one thing and one thing only - Brooke Shield as a naked twelve-year-old.
It was also a notoriously scandalous film because of child pornography issues (the setting is a New Orleans brothel), which makes it a surprising choice for DVD release in this age of political correctness - although Paramount basically just slapped it onto disc, as it's a no-frills release (with not even a trailer to go with it)!
However, despite a notable cast (Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Barbara Steele and Gerrit Graham), the film only really comes to life - after a rather wandering first half - when the Lolita-esquire elements of the Brooke Shields character take center stage.
I'm still not very sure where the moral center of the movie was located, but I think that was Malle's point-- that it's a good idea to question and re-evaluate all taboo subjects to understand why they are taboo in the first place..
As far as controversy, there are legal French films that would blow this one away.It's also a great film for Brooke fans who get to watch an amazing personality bloom into an awesome woman over her career.Here's some more words for ten line mininum because I really don't have anything more to say except that I've already said a whole bunch for just five lines and I really don't want to add any more so I think that about does it.
This is the beauty of the film, and its entire aesthetic reason to be.If you're offended by naked baby buttocks, sexually aware pre-teens, or horrific acting, don't see this movie.
Though the film was well-made, placing a 13 year old girl in this role pretty much amounts to child pornography..
With the nude scenes of 12-13 year old Brooke Shields, I do not think this movie passes current standards of child pornography..
Seems pretty straightforward to me.Giving the film-makers the benefit of the doubt, it seems to assume we're going to have a particular reaction to child nudity, something like "oh no, how awful it was for children in that situation back then!" But all the truly unpleasant abuse has to occur off-screen for obvious reasons, so any dramatic impact is toothless.
And by using real child nudity in an attempt to demonstrate how exploitative of children people were back then, the film ignores its own message.It doesn't help that there effectively is no story.
The film was famous for displaying a naked 12 year-old Brooke Shields.
Shields plays Violet, who lives in the house with her prostitute mother Hattie, played by Susan Sarandon.
I think this film does a very good job capturing the period of 1917 New Orleans and shows a different side to early 20th century America.
The main characters are Hattie, a prostitute working in a high-class brothel, her 12-year-old daughter, Violet, and Ernest J.
Bellocq is not just obsessed with photography; he also becomes obsessed with young Violet whom he marries, despite her tender years, after the brothel madam has auctioned off her virginity to the highest bidder.There are some similarities between this film and another controversial seventies film about child prostitution, Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver".
Here, however, the young Brooke's performance is marked by a greater emotional depth and immediacy than she has achieved in many of her roles as an adult, and she is certainly the best thing about the film, together with its elegant recreation of the period.Shields apart, however, the acting does not amount to much.
He had been much better the previous year in "The Duellists".It is, moreover, not just Carradine's acting that is languid; Louis Malle's direction means that the film itself moves at a stately, almost funereal, pace.
Illiterate willful twelve year old Violet (Brooke Shields)'s mother Hattie (Susan Sarandon) gives birth to a boy.
Brooke Shields is exceedingly young and the movie fits the definition of child porn.
One of them, Hattie (Susan Sarandon), has a 12 year old girl named Violet (Brooke Shields).
the movie shows reality.the problem is not rare.it shows the unlimited perversion of human kind.and the poverty and the love for money that leads to accept anything.the age is not a problem,when the daughter is about to find a "good" opportunity for her future.Brooke is sweet,but i don't know how the producers can explain how they put her in this situation without affecting her.i think she felt as a child prostitute when she acted.i see that all people that wrote reviews here are from Canada or US.nobody from Europe.i just got to see some "trailers".the movie is not available here.i tried to find it on internet as a torrent,but i didn't find it and i think is not there.if anyone would like to help be see this movie,please email me.
Yep. When it comes to the likes of 1977's "Pretty Baby" - This one is definitely "the end to the innocence".As this film's story so gleefully points out - There's nothing like taking away a 12-year-old girl's virginity in order to get her to grow up.
Ah, yes the 1-line summary is what I would describe the film.Considering the U.S. child pornography laws, I'm surprised U.S. government has let this movie to be produced.Looks like the Louis Malle had the guts to make a movie that has nude scene of a young girl named Brooke Shields.Perhaps that is why this movie must be significant.It's not surprising to see a lot of reviewers bashing this movie because of the nudity scene..
Brooke Shields is 13 years old in this movie and you can see her full frontal and rear nudity.
Telling the story of a lonely photographer's obsession with a precocious twelve-year old prostitute named Violet(Brooke Shields) in New Orleans early in the century.The photographer (Keith Carradine) eventually allows Violet to move in with him, and then marries her.
Pretty Baby is not such a film, it is one where Louis Malle has minimized his use of nudity - any less and the nature and character of the scenario he has to depict could become distorted.
But...the realization of SEEING it on film dramatically portrayed by Brooke Sheilds as the daughter, Susan Sarandon as the self-centered, prostitute mother and Keith Carradine as the grown Photographer is what gets to you.
I love to see beautifully filmed movies and Pretty Baby is certainly that.
I, for one am grateful Louis Malle was able to do so.I've read comments that Pretty Baby glamorizes child prostitution.
Once you get past the fact of a naked preteen Brooke Shields, Pretty Baby is a well-made film that does an excellent job of evoking a specific time and place, and of developing the unique relationship between a precocious, sometimes bratty twelve-year-old prostitute and the quiet, sometimes temperamental photographer who loves her.
In 'Pretty Baby' Shields must play a 12-year-old who takes prostitution for granted as a way of life, who looks forward to the day she is ready also, but still acts like a child, one who likes to chase lizards in the underbrush and who throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way.
You have to feel a little sorry for Brooke Shields, as her starring in this essentially screwed her up psychologically something fierce, but she does give her one and only exceptional performance in it as a 12 year old girl living in a New Orleans whorehouse.
The final moment of the movie has Shields, about to become an actual little girl for the first time in her life, having her picture taken by her stepfather.
But I give it 8 out of 10 because the plot is well done also the time scenery/clothing/atmosphere, and specially because it is a controversial theme handled deeply.If someone asks me "Was Brooke Shields exploited in this movie?" I have to say of course, she was, not only for the nudes but for the situations she has to go through the film.