Pretty Baby

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 ...more

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 ...more