Pretty Baby

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Pretty Baby

R

Released Apr 5, 1978

1h 49m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

71%

Tomatometer

28 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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Tom Milne

Sight & Sound

A sentimental education beautifully played by both Carradine and Brooke Shields.

Mar 17, 2020

Full Review

Judith Martin

Washington Post

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.

Feb 1, 2018

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

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.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 1, 2018

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

As compelling as it is humane.

Rated: 3.5/5

Oct 20, 2020

Full Review

Bernard Drew

Gannett News Service

Weak on every level.

Nov 1, 2019

Full Review

Eleanor M. Gates

Sojourner

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.

Aug 14, 2019

Full Review

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CodyZamboni Z

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

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/07/24

Full Review

JM M

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?

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

06/24/24

Full Review

Ram L

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/29/24

Full Review

Sarah W

The manner they made this movie is so appalling to the point I had to read the script in order to avoid further watching the movie. At this point let's just renamed the movie to "Child exploitation 101".

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/24

Full Review

Janice M

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..

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/18/24

Full Review

Cees T

Controversial but slow and uneventful. 6/10

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/22/23

Full Review

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Louis Malle

Director

Brooke Shields

Violet

Keith Carradine

Bellocq

Susan Sarandon

Hattie

Frances Faye

Nell

Antonio Fargas

Professor

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet Gets Married

1:49

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Can I Stay Here?

2:12

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Hattie Takes Violet Away

2:10

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Prepping Violet

2:01

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Bidding on Violet

2:11

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - I Want to Be Respectable

2:07

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - The Girls at the Lake

2:08

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - We're Going to Be Married

2:13

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet, You Alright?

1:39

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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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