Pretty Baby
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Movie Reviews of Pretty Baby
Movie Review: Disturbing, poignant, yet beautiful....
Summary: 5 Stars
The beautiful young Brooke Shields plays 11/12 year old Violet, daughter of Hattie (Susan Sarandon) a New Orleans prostitute living and working in a brothel in 1917. Violet has been raised in the brothel and has not been to school and has known no other life or anything about the outside world. When she turns 12, her virginity is auctioned off. Brooke Shields' portrayal of Violet is poignant and beautiful. Her childish charms and innocence are so heart-wrenchingly sweet. The scene where she jumps up and down on the photographer's bed (very childlike) and asks him whether he will take care of her before throwing her arms around him and giving him small childlike kisses on the nose, forehead etc. and reciting that little rhyme really pulled at my heart strings! I just wanted to jump into the TV and give her a hug!! This, mixed with the seductive adult things that she also says in this scene (and others) is particularly poignant as we know that young Violet is merely reciting what she's heard from the prostitutes. The photographer also says that Violet doesn't know what she's saying. You just want to turn the clock back, hug Violet and give her a proper childhood! The photographer marries her because he's fascinated with her beauty, innocence and is concerned that she is only a child and should not be in a brothel becoming a prostitute. The part where he gives her a doll is poignant as she has already lost her virginity and it seems that he's trying to give back her childhood, sadly she's been exposed to too much, too soon in her life. Susan Sarandon and Brooke Shields are wonderful in this movie as well as Keith Carradine, the photographer. The art aspect & music soundtrack are amazing. This movie deals with a taboo subject seen through the eyes of a child as 'normal' which enhances poignancy and brings out the viewers maternal need to 'rescue' young Violet.Movie Review: A work of art
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Wonderful and heartbreaking film!
Summary: 5 Stars
For years, I had heard all the controversy about this film and since I'm interested in New Orleans history, I decided to pick this up and see what all the fuss was about. I was surprised to find it different than how others had described it to me. Yes, the nudity was over the top but the story itself was tragic and well done. Violet is a child living in an adult world who doesn't realize prostitution is wrong and follows in her own mother's footsteps. When Bellocq comes to the Storyville district to photograph the prostitutes, he becomes enchanted with Violet's beauty and falls in love with her. I never felt this movie glorified child prostitution. It told the story of the way things were back then. Life now is much different than it was in the early party of the last century and I think this film shows the ugliness of the brothels of that era. Poor Violet having her virginity auctioned and really not knowing any better. When the creepy old guy pays the money, it made me feel sick to my stomach. I guess that was the point of the movie. It made me feel so many things on so many different levels.
All in all, it was a movie that made me think. It was also beautifully shot and very realistic to the time it portrayed. The costumes, the music and the setting were breathtaking. I definitely thought about it after the film was over.
A great film but one that is definitely not for everyone.
Movie Review: BROOKE SPARKLES!!
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
This movie also has a great ragtime soundtrack and this music helps with the story too.
Movie Review: The bitter loneliness behind the red light house
Summary: 5 Stars
A brothel is the saddest place in the world. Malle however finds a dark poetry behind the red house light and gives a beautiful intimate portrait since the point of view of a little girl.Malle always kept in the deepest of his soul the childhood memories , and this is a direct heritage from the French Mew Wave. And this statement is supported by two essential films of him *Zazie dans le metro* from 1961 and *Au revoir les enfants* (one of his four masterpieces) from 1986 who deserved him an Academy Award as best foreigner film.
This film literally made grow up to Susan Sarandon as a top actress in a demanding role. Jodie Foster made this role without too much effort , probably due her before playing in Taxi Driver.
The script is astonishing and surrounded of a bitter atmosphere.
One little gem and a cult movie from this brilliant french director.