Pretty Baby (1978)

The Age of Commercialism

Simply Perfect

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This movie was a showcase for Brooke Shields. Let's face facts. A lot of the people who went to see this had heard about her tender age. I'm sure there were pedophiles in every theater. Shields was a beautiful child and was probably exploited to get her into the movies. The story is that of a young girl who grows up in a brothel. She is being "held back" until she turns twelve. Eventually, the place they live becomes off limits to their top clientele. Brooke is simply a part of the family but has had a lifetime of experiences. Is she capable of going back to being just a girl. That's the issue that she faces. This film is lush with images of the south. It is a striking movie, but I did feel a little sick having seen it.

The nudity doesn't ultimately add anything to the story (hence porn) and the nudity in question is of a child (hence child porn). If the movie was exactly the same but the lead actress was older, no one would make the argument that the nudity added anything, because the whole point of it is the added impact it makes thanks to Brooke Shields being twelve. 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. None of the nudity is placed within a context that forces the audience to confront how awful it is, on the contrary it's all supremely tasteful, partly thanks to the whitewashed characterization of the most artificially appealing pedophile in cinema history, Bellocq. 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. There's almost no focus on what Violet is actually feeling at all, instead there's an alternation between scenes where she acts like a child and scenes where she earns her keep as a prostitute. I got the impression I was supposed to sympathize with the character solely because she was a child in a sh!tty situation, not because the writers gave her interesting traits, or at the very least, conveyed an impression of how she saw the world.We could argue how to define porn, of course, but I don't think that's difficult: it's where the nudity is the point. If this movie hadn't had Brooke Shields naked no one would even remember it, as there's little dramatic content and no plot. The main character has, from beginning to end, no ultimate control over her fate - and regardless of how realistic that is it still makes for a lousy story. If they had made the narrative more character-based, so it hinged on something that Violet could have some influence over, perhaps a story about a child prostitute in this era could have worked... but not like this.1/10, one of the most pathetically misguided art-house exploitation flicks ever.

While best known for the controversy it inevitably ignites whenever it's mentioned, this is, in reality, a fantastic film. 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. She is being groomed for a life in the world's oldest profession by a rickety old madame and even her mother (Susan Sarandon). Meanwhile, a bizarre photographer (Keith Carradine) enters this world to take pictures. He's allowed to stick around every day because, I don't know, I suppose they think he might bring them some fame or at least advertisement, and because they assume he's a homosexual and nonthreatening. Over the course of the film, his relationship with Shields blossoms, but you're never really sure what his deal is. Personally, I do think he was a pedophile. While the prostitutes are always trying to turn Shields into a seasoned whore, Carradine is always insisting that she remain a child. Yet he is most certainly interested in a romantic relationship, as well, even while he wants to pretend it's a father/daughter relationship. So, really, I should probably be disgusted with Carradine, but why do I feel so sad when Sarandon shows up at the end, after he and Shields have been married, to take her away? Pretty Baby is an extremely complex film, emotionally, and it's gorgeously directed in a very subtle style by Malle, who might very well be my favorite French director. 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. The final freeze frame is every bit as perfect as the one that ends Truffaut's The 400 Blows.

Set in 1917 New Orleans. This is the story of a brothel and the women working there. One of them, Hattie (Susan Sarandon), has a 12 year old girl named Violet (Brooke Shields). Bellocq (Keith Carradine) pays to photograph the women but doesn't have sex with any of them. However he seems strongly attracted to Violet who is being set up to be a prostitute like her mom.This sounds a lot worse than it plays. It was hugely controversial when it came out mostly because Shields was 12 and has nude scenes. The subject matter alone caused outrage but seriously...this film has no impact. It's extremely low key to a ridiculous degree. Everything is done in such a calm laid-back manner that it doesn't seem even remotely exploitive. Considering the subject matter the film is incredibly tame. The only nudity comes from Sarandon and Shields and it's never sexual in context. The film looks great too and it's (purportedly) factual. The low key tone works--but after a while it gets downright boring. EVERYBODY acts low key. I was just hoping somebody would overreact to something. Also the story gets more than a little unbelievable towards the end. The acting is good by Sarandon and the other women. Frances Faye as the head of the house is great and it's always good to see Barbara Steele. However Shields is terrible--but she WAS only 12. Carradine is even worse. Very stiff and wooden. This isn't a bad movie just a dull one. Hard to believe a movie about a 12 year old prostitute could be dull--but it is. It definitely would not be made today. I give it a 6.