Pretty Baby

Plot

After making a series of acclaimed and controversial films in his native France, director Louis Malle made his American debut with this disturbing but visually beautiful story about Hattie (Susan Sarandon), a prostitute working in New Orleans' Storyville district at the turn of the century. When Hattie becomes pregnant, she opts to keep her baby and gives birth to a daughter named Violet, raising her in the brothel where she continues to work. Twelve years later, Violet (Brooke Shields) is old enough to attract the attentions of the brothel's customers, but emotionally has one foot in the adult world of her surroundings and the other in the naïveté of childhood. With Hattie's consent, Violet's virginity is auctioned off to the customers of the house; but for Violet, the pull between childhood and adulthood becomes most clear -- and most painful -- when she draws the affections of Bellocq (Keith Carradine), a photographer who has been working on a photo series about Storyville prostitutes. Violet's blend of childlike innocence and adult sensuality is profoundly attractive to him, but their relationship quickly becomes problematic, especially when Hattie leaves Violet behind to get married. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Review

Louis Malle's film on the world of child prostitution is notably slack and uninvolving despite its controversial subject. Brooke Shields stars as Violet, the daughter of prostitute Hattie (Susan Sarandon), who is raised in a brothel in turn-of-the-century New Orleans' Storyville, and decides to adopt her mother's profession. Malle, who successfully broached the subject of incest in Le Souffle au Coeur (1971), tries to pull off a similar feat here, but despite his attempt to make a much older man's sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl seem like a ho-hum alternative, he shies away from the issue by aestheticizing and muting the depiction of sex. Keith Carradine plays the essentially voyeuristic photographer Bellocq, whose attraction to the young girl is more contemplative than physical. There is little difference between his point of view and that of the film, and there is really no character for Shields to play, as Malle renders her as more object than subject. Viewers are left with the slow-moving spectacle of beautiful women lounging around their well-appointed workplace waiting for clients -- not particularly painful perhaps, but not too compelling either. That said, the film is beautifully photographed by Sven Nykvist, and for horror fans, cult actress Barbara Steele makes one of her last film appearances. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi

Cast

• Keith Carradine - E.J. Bellocq
• Susan Sarandon - Hattie
• Brooke Shields - Violet
• Frances Faye - Mme. Nell Livingston
• Antonio Fargas - Professor, Piano Player

Gerritt Graham - Highpockets; Mae Mercer - Mama Mosebery; Diana Scarwid - Frieda; Barbara Steele - Josephine; Mathew Douglas Anton - Red Top; Seret Scott - Flora; Cheryl Markowitz - Gussie; Susan Manskey - Fanny; Laura Zimmerman - Agnes; Miz Mary - Odette; Don Hood - Alfred Fuller; Don K. Lutenbacher - Violet's First Customer; Pat Perkins - Ola Mae

Credit

Gary Chason - Casting, Juliet Taylor - Casting, Mina Mittleman - Costume Designer, Don Heitzer - First Assistant Director, John M. Poer - First Assistant Director, Louis Malle - Director, Suzanne Baron - Editor, Suzanne Fenn - Editor, Jerry Wexler - Musical Direction/Supervision, David Grayson - Makeup, Charlene Roberson - Makeup, Trevor Williams - Production Designer, Sven Nykvist - Cinematographer, Maureen Lambray - Cinematographer, Louis Malle - Producer, James I. Berkey - Set Designer, Jim Berkey - Set Designer, Maureen Lambray - Special Effects, Don Johnson - Sound/Sound Designer, Polly Platt - Screen Story, Polly Platt - Screenwriter, Jerry Wexler - Music Producer, Jelly Roll Morton - Featured Music

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