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Pretty Baby

Play trailer Poster for Pretty Baby R 1978 1h 49m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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70% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Hattie (Susan Sarandon), a New Orleans hooker, meets a photographer named Bellocq (Keith Carradine) at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet (Brooke Shields). When Violet is brought on as a working girl by her mother's madam and Hattie skips town to get married, Violet quickly loses her innocence and focuses on reuniting with Bellocq. But a life with Bellocq is compromised for Violet after her mother returns to town.

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Pretty Baby

Critics Reviews

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Judith Martin Washington Post 02/01/2018
It takes a robust and humorous approach to life in a brothel, where the work done is less important than the community spirit; and "naughty" would be a far better word to describe the sex scenes, while the rest is decidedly nice. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 02/01/2018
3/4
Louis Malle's Pretty Baby is a pleasant surprise: After all the controversy and scandal surrounding its production, it turns out to be a good-hearted, good-looking, quietly elegiac movie. Go to Full Review
Variety Staff Variety 03/26/2009
The story highlights are confined within a narrow range of ho-hum dramatization. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 10/20/2020
3.5/5
As compelling as it is humane. Go to Full Review
Bernard Drew Gannett News Service 11/01/2019
Weak on every level. Go to Full Review
Eleanor M. Gates Sojourner 08/14/2019
In a large sense, Pretty Baby's style makes its own statements; yet the aesthetic appeal of what we are shown remains strangely inconsistent with much of the film's content. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Stefano T @Giant_Lizard Jul 15 Really interesting film. Violet is this little girl who's living a life which is definitely not made for a kid that age. She acts as a woman, she is sexualised and she does things that are not appropriate for her age (which are disturbing for most the audience and I totally understand that). But her character is interesting, in this mix up of woman/kid acts. And this film is certainly unique for its genre. It's controversial, but I find the critics too hard in that aspect: they call this "child pornography", while there is no scene of sex at all. There are a couple of scenes of Brooke Shields naked, which can be upsetting considering her age (12) but that's all. See more CodyZamboni Z @CodyZamboni 12/07/2024 Brooke Shields is the whole show, So vibrant, so charismatic, charming, headstrong, and full of life, Brooke out acts the rest of cast, There's no real plot, Just a character study, as movie is told mainly from Brooke’s POV, She's a naive 12 year old kid who knows no other life than living and working in a fun loving, good natured brothel. Movie deftly handles the dicey and sensitive subject matter See more JM M @jmmch 06/24/2024 Terrible exposure of a child to a pornographic environment. The real abused one was the child actress Brooke Shield, who was exploited by her Mother. This was very perverse, damaging the innocence of a child. How can this movie be legal? See more Ram L @der_herrenwolf 02/29/2024 To use a snippet from a critic's review out of context and in isolation—"...all the cries of child pornography..." — If one could go beyond those cries, one would see here a sensitive depiction of human nature, of human-ness (not humaneness), of the tenderness of the heart that one seldom gets to see in movies. This is most definitely not a movie to one whose mind is confined to societal sensibilities; it *will* be enjoyed by people who can appreciate sensitive portayals of the manner in which the human heart—and mind—works. "Der Wille des Herzens," as we say; the will of the heart. Rather many hearts in the case of this movie. See more Janice M @elizabethjan 01/18/2024 The movie was fair, a little slow moving, but Brook Shields should have been removed from her mother's home for letting her or putting her in this movie.. See more Cees T @RT15093300 11/22/2023 Controversial but slow and uneventful. 6/10 See more Read all reviews
Pretty Baby

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Pretty Baby

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet Gets Married Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet Gets Married 1:49 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Can I Stay Here? Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Can I Stay Here? 2:12 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Hattie Takes Violet Away Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Hattie Takes Violet Away 2:10 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Prepping Violet Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Prepping Violet 2:01 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Bidding on Violet Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Bidding on Violet 2:11 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - I Want to Be Respectable Pretty Baby: Official Clip - I Want to Be Respectable 2:07 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - The Girls at the Lake Pretty Baby: Official Clip - The Girls at the Lake 2:08 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - We're Going to Be Married Pretty Baby: Official Clip - We're Going to Be Married 2:13 Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet, You Alright? Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet, You Alright? 1:39 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Hattie (Susan Sarandon), a New Orleans hooker, meets a photographer named Bellocq (Keith Carradine) at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet (Brooke Shields). When Violet is brought on as a working girl by her mother's madam and Hattie skips town to get married, Violet quickly loses her innocence and focuses on reuniting with Bellocq. But a life with Bellocq is compromised for Violet after her mother returns to town.
Director
Louis Malle
Producer
Louis Malle
Screenwriter
Polly Platt
Production Co
Paramount Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 5, 1978, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 1, 2012
Runtime
1h 49m
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