Pretty Baby (1978) - Louis Malle
In 1917, the last months of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana. Hattie [Susan Sarandon] , a prostitute at the elegant home of Madame Nell, and her 12-year-old daughter Violet [Brooke Shields] are the only ones awake when photographer Ernest J. Bellocq comes by with his camera. He takes pictures of Hattie and he fascinates Violet. Over the next few months, Nell arranges for the auction of Violet's virginity, Hattie marries and goes to St. Louis leaving Violet behind, and Violet determines to marry Bellocq. Is this idyllic or is she just a girl wearing rouge, soon to return to childhood? --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Baby [Oct 2004]
Ernest J. Bellocq (1873-1949) [...]
The mysteries surrounding Bellocq have inspired several fictional versions of his life, notably the film Pretty Baby, in which Bellocq was played by Keith Carradine. He is also a central character in Michael Ondaatje's novel Coming Through Slaughter, and in several collections of poems. Both works take considerable literary liberty, portraying a fictional Bellocq in many ways contrary to the known facts of the actual Bellocq. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.J._Bellocq [Oct 2004]
Pretty Baby (1978) - Louis Malle
Pretty Baby (1978) - Louis Malle [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
A semi-scandal upon its release in 1978, this Louis Malle film is set in a turn-of-the-century, New Orleans bordello and focuses on a girl named Violet (then-child actress Brooke Shields) whose imminent twelfth birthday signals her "readiness" to become a career prostitute. Typical of Malle, the outwardly forbidden nature of the story and relationships within are morally obscured by the immediate experiences and unqualified urges of the characters. The little heroine brings a distinctly youthful and innocent view to the milieu, and the introduction of a photographer (Keith Carradine)--who eventually marries Violet--in the brothel carries the suggestion that there is art and beauty to be explored there. Susan Sarandon is beguiling as Violet's mother, who seems to unfold in the cameraman's presence. The film moves a little stiffly, a little slowly, possibly from a heavy emphasis on period art direction and Sven Nykvist's moody if gorgeous photography. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com in a review of Pretty Baby (1978) - Louis Malle [Amazon.com]
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