which director made the film, pretty baby? course hero

by Tracy Legros 9 min read

Why does Bellocq let Violet leave?

Why does Violet return to Nell's?

What does Bellocq do in the brothel?

What does Nell decide about Violet?

What year was Pretty Baby?

What is the soundtrack for Pretty Baby?

How much did Pretty Baby make?

See 4 more

About this website

How did Brooke Shields get away with full frontal in movie at age 13 ...

Originally posted by weich: This has always baffaled me. One of the cable movie channels showed the movie Pretty Baby. It has Susuan Sarandon and Brooke Shields, among others.

Nude photo of Brooke Shields does not tell the whole story - Yahoo! News

Looking further into Brooke Shields early acting career didn't really comfort me. Between her nude scenes as a girl in a brothel in Pretty Baby at age 12, telling the world "nothing [got] between" her and her Calvin's at age 14, and having to testify before Congress at age 15 that it was, in fact, a body double that did all that steamy lovemaking in the Blue Lagoon, I started to wonder how ...

Brooke Shields, 55, posts nude throwback photo for Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, which marks the start of the environmental movement in 1970, Brooke Shields posted a throwback shot of herself enjoying nature in the nude.

Brooke Burke’s nude photos of yore| Latest News Videos | Fox News

Pics she shot 20 years ago for a calendar turn up

Pretty Baby : Louis Malle, Polly Platt - Internet Archive

I agree with Robryhawk the f***Ng Jews love seeing our ( white) children walking around doing kiddy porn. They call our little girls " shiskulas" ,i.e. "little whores". To Amoreth Black, you are one sick ass, evil bastard finding a 12 year old girl erotic.

Why does Bellocq let Violet leave?

Bellocq does not want to let Violet go. Violet asks if he will go with her and her family. Upon hearing that she does in fact want to go with them, he lets her leave without him, realizing that schooling and a more conventional life will benefit her greatly.

Why does Violet return to Nell's?

Violet eventually returns to Nell's after quarreling with Bellocq, but social reform groups are forcing the brothels of Storyville to close. Bellocq arrives to wed Violet, ostensibly to protect her from the larger world.

What does Bellocq do in the brothel?

Bellocq becomes a fixture in the brothel, photographing the prostitutes, mostly Hattie. His activities fascinate Violet, though she believes he is falling in love with her mother, which makes her jealous. Violet is a restless child, frustrated by the long, precise process Bellocq must go through to compose and take pictures.

What does Nell decide about Violet?

Nell decides that Violet is old enough for her virginity to be auctioned off. After a bidding war among regulars, Violet is bought by an apparently quiet customer. Hattie, meanwhile, aspires to escape prostitution. She marries a customer and leaves for St. Louis without her daughter, whom her husband believes to be her sister. Hattie promises to return for Violet, once she's settled and has broken the news to the new spouse.

What year was Pretty Baby?

Pretty Baby. (1978 film) Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The plot focuses on a 12-year-old prostitute in the red-light district of New Orleans soon after the turn of the 20th century.

What is the soundtrack for Pretty Baby?

Film music. Main article: Pretty Baby (soundtrack) ABC Records released a soundtrack of the film's ragtime score, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adaptation Score in the "Adaptation Score" category.

How much did Pretty Baby make?

United States. Language. English. Box office. $5.8 million. Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The plot focuses on a 12-year-old prostitute in the red-light district of New Orleans soon after ...

Where to watch

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps.

Synopsis

Hattie, a New Orleans hooker, meets a photographer named Bellocq at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet. 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.

What is the controversy surrounding Pretty Baby?

The Controversy Surrounding Pretty Baby. Pretty Baby Brooke Shields controversy is one of the most longstanding issues that have plagued the history of cinema. In 1978, when the movie, Pretty Baby, was released, there was furore among fans and detractors alike. There were many organisations, especially those of social activists ...

Why is Pretty Baby Brooke Shields so controversial?

The first was the central plot of the film. The story revolved around a twelve year old prostitute, played by Brooke Shields. The child prostitute lived in and worked in the red light district of New Orleans.

Why do movies have controversy?

Some movies deliberately court controversy to gain widespread publicity , which obviously affect the box office grosses. Some movies don’t intend to court any controversy but end up drawing the ire of critics, activists and the general public. It is tough to draw a line between artistic freedom and what is art. If art is truly boundless then there should not be any definition or distinction of what is acceptable and what is not. But how art is conceived, presented and perceived does make a lot of difference.

Was Pretty Baby a success?

But Pretty Baby was a success at the box office and it did gain a lot of critical acclaim from renowned movie buffs. YouTube.

Did Brooke Shields get fame?

Brooke Shields did get her share of fame and so did the makers of the film but the film didn’t make her a star in the later years and she had to struggle through the years of the controversy and for many years after.

How old was Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby?

Brooke Shields, who was twelve years old during the filming of Pretty Baby, was introduced on the big screen when the film released in 1978. Before Pretty Baby, Shields appeared in advertisements for companies such as Ivory Soap, Colgate, and American Home Magazines, making her “a veteran icon of the all-American girl” (Flake 1978). However, her role in Pretty Baby as a child prostitute caused an uproar among many child’s rights activists and film critics, accusing Louis Malle of “exploitation of child prostitution” (Kroll 1978, 106). Although her role involved what was deemed unsuitable activity for a young girl, Susan Sarandon said of Shields that “people don’t realize she is more mature than her age. She knew what the role involved, and she is a professional” (Flake 1978).

What is the book that inspired Pretty Baby?

Historian Al Rose’s book Storyville, New Orleans , is one of the main inspirations for the film Pretty Baby. However, Rose claims that the film is inaccurate and although he had been paid for the rights to the book, he was “ignored.” One discrepancy in the film, Rose claims, is “the presence of both black and white prostitutes in the same bordello.” Also, Rose stated that Louis Malle “sensationalized”€ the story of child prostitute Violet, which was so brief a segment in his book. The book contains a short interview with the real Violet in which she states, “I know it’d be good if I could say how awful it was and like crime don’t pay-but to me it seems just like anything else-like a kid whose father owns a grocery store. He helps him in the store. Well, my mother didn’t sell groceries” (Flake 1978).

How old is Bellocq in the movie?

Carradine said of the relationship that “Bellocq is a 27 year old virgin when he meets Violet, and the movie is about his underdevelopment as much as her precocity. He can relate to her because he, himself, is a child, and she can respond to him in a safe way” (Flake 1978).

Where was Pretty Baby filmed?

Pretty Baby, although based in the red-light district of New Orleans, was filmed at the Columns Hotel located in the uptown area of the city at 3811 St. Charles Avenue. The hotel “had been converted into a baroque Hollywood version of a Storyville bordello” during the filming. Studio designer Trevor William’s decor, indigenous pieces such as beds with mosquito nets, and Victorian furniture filled the hotel for what screen director Polly Platt described as “splendor without comfort.” Local rumors of “Babylon coming to New Orleans” prompted production company Paramount and director Louis Malle to develop a low key publicity strategy for the film in an attempt to avoid receiving an “X” rating. The film was eventually rated “R” (Flake 1978).

Who directed Pretty Baby?

French director Louis Malle has a passion for directing films that “surround our greatest taboos” said film critic Carol Flake (Flake 1978). Before directing Pretty Baby, his first American film, Malle worked on films such as Black Moon and The Lovers, which generated much interest and lead to both French and American film offers (Arnold 1978; Flake 1978). Malle claims that over the years his directing style has evolved from a “young and innocent and pretending to be tough”€ to a style that is “actually tough” (Duplantier, Stephen. “A Modern Bellocq Meets €’Pretty Baby'”.€ Figaro, April 12, 1978, pg. 25).

Who was Bellocq?

New Orleans local artist Mary Daspit remembers Bellocq “not as the misshapen hydrocephalic dwarf he has been called” but as “a slightly obese character with a floor-length great coat full of pockets” and that “he spoke with a more Teutonic accent than a French one” (Duplantier 1978). Some who claim to have known him saw he was Swiss, as well as German, while others say French. Local historians have come to the consensus that he was “a grotesque Toulouse-Lautrec sort” (Flake 1978).

Where did Earnest Bellocq live?

There is little known information on the life of photographer Earnest Bellocq. He lived in New Orleans, photographing the prostitutes of Storyville, and created a collection of photographs that were discovered after Bellocq’s death in 1949 by local collector Larry Borenstein and then sold to photographer Lee Friedlander (Flake 1978). Friedlander created prints of Bellocq’s work, which appeared in 1978 in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit “Storyville Portraits.”

Why does Bellocq let Violet leave?

Bellocq does not want to let Violet go. Violet asks if he will go with her and her family. Upon hearing that she does in fact want to go with them, he lets her leave without him, realizing that schooling and a more conventional life will benefit her greatly.

Why does Violet return to Nell's?

Violet eventually returns to Nell's after quarreling with Bellocq, but social reform groups are forcing the brothels of Storyville to close. Bellocq arrives to wed Violet, ostensibly to protect her from the larger world.

What does Bellocq do in the brothel?

Bellocq becomes a fixture in the brothel, photographing the prostitutes, mostly Hattie. His activities fascinate Violet, though she believes he is falling in love with her mother, which makes her jealous. Violet is a restless child, frustrated by the long, precise process Bellocq must go through to compose and take pictures.

What does Nell decide about Violet?

Nell decides that Violet is old enough for her virginity to be auctioned off. After a bidding war among regulars, Violet is bought by an apparently quiet customer. Hattie, meanwhile, aspires to escape prostitution. She marries a customer and leaves for St. Louis without her daughter, whom her husband believes to be her sister. Hattie promises to return for Violet, once she's settled and has broken the news to the new spouse.

What year was Pretty Baby?

Pretty Baby. (1978 film) Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The plot focuses on a 12-year-old prostitute in the red-light district of New Orleans soon after the turn of the 20th century.

What is the soundtrack for Pretty Baby?

Film music. Main article: Pretty Baby (soundtrack) ABC Records released a soundtrack of the film's ragtime score, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adaptation Score in the "Adaptation Score" category.

How much did Pretty Baby make?

United States. Language. English. Box office. $5.8 million. Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The plot focuses on a 12-year-old prostitute in the red-light district of New Orleans soon after ...

image

Overview

Pretty Baby is a 1978 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The plot focuses on a 12-year-old prostitute in the red-light district of New Orleans soon after the beginning of the 20th century.
The title of the film is inspired by the Tony Jackson song "Pretty Baby", which i…

Plot

In 1917, during the last months of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, Hattie is a prostitute working at an elegant brothel run by the elderly, cocaine-sniffing Madame Nell. Hattie has given birth to a baby boy and has a 12-year-old daughter, Violet, who lives in the house. When photographer Ernest J. Bellocq comes with his camera, Hattie and Violet are the only people awake. He asks to be allowed to take photographs of the women. Mad…

Cast

• Brooke Shields as Violet
• Keith Carradine as E. J. Bellocq
• Susan Sarandon as Hattie
• Frances Faye as Nell

Production

Following her acclaimed performance as a child prostitute in Taxi Driver (1976), the studio was keen on casting Jodie Foster as Violet, however Malle rejected the idea as he thought the role should be played by a 12-year-old only, and Foster was 14. Brooke Shields maintains that it was no big deal to shoot her nude scenes. "I did not experience any distress or humiliation," she writes. What she does remember was trying not to look as if "I'd just sucked on a lemon" before her on-s…

Film music

ABC Records released a soundtrack of the film's ragtime score, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adaptation Score in the "Adaptation Score" category.

Content and rating

Pretty Baby received an R rating in the United States, an X rating in the United Kingdom (18 following a change to the ratings system), and an R18+ rating in Australia, for nudity and sexual content. Continuing controversy over Shields's nude scenes resulted in the film being banned in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan until 1995. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett called the film "child pornography", and director Louis Malle was described as a "combination of Lolita's Humbert …

Reception

Pretty Baby earned $5.8 million in the United States.
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 71% of 28 critics had given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.88/10.
In his New York Times review Vincent Canby wrote: "Mr. Malle, the French director ... has made some controversial films in his time but none, I suspect, that is likely to upset convention quite a…

Awards

The film won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.