Pretty Baby (1978)

A work of art

Very few movies are truly works of art. This is one of them. There are no explosions that throw bodies through the air, no sensational car crashes, no severed human limbs. Rather there is a plot that unfolds on its own good time, well drawn characters, excellently written dialogue, perfect atmosphere, and gorgeous photography.

Still, I understand why some might find the film objectionable. There is nudity, even nudity of a pubescent girl. There is open talk of sex. And some quasi moralists are more offended by that than by graphic violence. Sex, of course, is part of life and is legal, but it must not be shown or suggested very clearly. Murder, on the other hand, is illegal but is shown every night on TV with little protest from the moralists.

The acting here is seamless. Susan Sarandon gives her best performance, as does Brook Shields. But the performance that I found most startling was that of the bordello madame.

There was an area of New Orleans called Storyville, for some 20 years, where prostitution was confined, ending about World War I. That much of the plot is true. And the photographer Bellocq existed; some of his art has survived. But he didn't look anything like the character in this film, or so we are led to believe from descriptions of him.

I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. There is nothing I've seen like it. It is truly an art film. October 7, 2008

Good

Every thing arrived in good order and in good time
I could not confirm that I am over 13 because the check mark didn't work this time I confer now that I am fifty years older than thirteen. September 6, 2008

Brooke's forgotten Lolita role

Girl child stars have been used as either virginal beings or Lolita. Brooke Shield's mom knew what to use with Brooke when she was just such a child star. While these days we see Lolita more in the music visual genre (ex. Britney Spears), Brooke was one of the sexiest young girls ever to grace the silver screen. While more famous for the nearly nude scenes in Blue Lagoon, this was a movie that has since fallen into the slush pile but had her reputation solidified as Lolita.

Brooke is a twelve year old girl whose mother, Susan Sarandon, runs a brothel in New Orleans around the turn of the twentieth century. As Brooke is turning twelve, she is ready to be sold as a baby prostitute in her mother's brothel. Brooke rarely dresses in a provacative way, she wears make up with the terrible heavy hand that only a twelve year old can apply to her own face. She's cute, sweet, innocent, and childlike. What man wouldn't bid on her virginity? *Shudder*

It was more of the thought that things like this really happen in the world that made us think. And to think that Brooke herself was being sold to the highest bidder to star in a movie about this is what made us cluck our tongues. What a horror story.

But it worked for Brooke and her mom. Unlike her counterpart child stars who would fall apart from the stereotypical child star fast life, Brooke grew up to be a well adjusted, well educated, and very successful adult. She is the exception, but there are hundreds of others out there who are not so lucky, really living this hideous life. That's the real horror story. July 24, 2008

I love you once. I love you twice. I love you more than beans and rice!

I like this movie and I have seen this countless of times. 'Pretty Baby' is a testament to the fact that the 70's were vastly more liberated than our times, at least when it comes to sexuality. In here pretty baby is twelve-year-old Violet, played by Brooke Shields. Violet has grown in the environment of a circa World War I whorehouse in New Orleans, where her mother Hattie (Susan Sarandon) practices the oldest of professions. She 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. When her mother leaves the brothel to start a respectable life, Violet remains and allows her virginity to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. She finds herself drawn to a photographer, Bellocq, who is taking portraits of Storyville prostitutes. Realizing that she is love, the young Violet declares her intention to marry Bellocq...


Brook performance literally carries this movie. Yes, the movie is quite explicit about the business of prostitution during that time, but it is never exploited and gives one the sense of how it really was, and what might happen to children born into prostitution. Malle's dispassionate take on all of this outraged viewers a quarter-century ago, but it all seems rather tame today. Perhaps too tame.........

Malle's restraint is so great at times that one wishes he'd pushed the envelope even more. But he got an amazing performance out of Shields, one that she never topped in her career as an actress -- Violet is a mesmerizing combination of innocent child and sly young woman, and that we never see her as a victim is to both her credit and Malle's. Some of the other acting in the film is less impressive, especially Frances Faye as the brothel's elderly owner, Nell -- she's simply horrible, turning in one of the worst performances seen outside of early John Waters' movies. Still, it's a beautiful movie. Its slow pace may frustrate some viewers, but 'Pretty Baby' is a gorgeous, emotionally stunning experience.








April 18, 2008

Visually appealing but lacks depth.

Pretty Baby starring Susan Sarandon could've been a great little art film but rather it comes off pretentious and off-kiltered. Brooke Shields sure was a "pretty baby" back then and although her fragile but strong-willed performance is good, you just feel kinda like a prevert watching such a young girl portraying a child prostitute. Keith Carradine creeps me out and the film is dated now. Pretty Baby is intriguing but not brilliant. March 28, 2008

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