The image of an adult world seen through a child's eyes.
Overview
In 1917 New Orleans, a 12-year-old girl is raised in a brothel by her prostitute mother.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.5/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.66/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Louis Malle
Production
Paramount Pictures
Cast
Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Frances Faye, Antonio Fargas, Matthew Anton, Diana Scarwid, Barbara Steele, Gerrit Graham, Don Hood, Seret Scott, Cheryl Markowitz, Susan Manskey, Laura Zimmerman, Miz Mary, Mae Mercer, Pat Perkins, Von Eric Thomas, Sasha Holliday, Lisa Shames
Curator Review
Verdict
A technically polished but deeply troubling drama whose subject matter and production context make it hard to recommend. Its historical setting and visual craft are notable, but the film’s exploitation of a child performer overwhelms any artistic value for most viewers.
Best for
film scholars studying controversial 1970s cinema
viewers specifically researching the history of censorship and exploitation in film
people interested in Louis Malle’s body of work and willing to engage critically
Skip if
you want a comfortable or entertaining watch
you are sensitive to sexual exploitation or child abuse themes
you prefer films whose artistic ambition is not inseparable from ethical harm
Overview
Pretty Baby is one of those films where the conversation around it is inseparable from the film itself. Set in a brothel in 1917 New Orleans, it presents a world of faded elegance, sexual commerce, and social rot with undeniable period detail and strong craft, but the premise is so morally corrosive that the movie becomes almost impossible to experience on its own terms.
Worth noting
Louis Malle stages it with a cool, observational eye, and the production design and cinematography give it a seductive surface. That surface is exactly the problem: the film’s attempt at social realism crosses into exploitation, and the presence of a child actor in such material makes the whole enterprise feel ethically compromised rather than merely provocative.
Bottom line
For viewers approaching it as a historical artifact, it can be discussed as a marker of what 1970s prestige cinema was willing to excuse in the name of seriousness. For everyone else, the discomfort is not incidental but central, and it is hard to argue that the movie earns the distress it causes.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Jamie Lauren Keiles (3★) · 1392 likes
the minute you finally take this off your watchlist they add you to a registry
Sophie Overett (0.5★) · 1091 likes
For this movie to be made, Brooke Shields had to be failed by everyone in her life.
Agos (0.5★) · 1018 likes
Fuck Hollywood for sexualising minors
Final Girl · 550 likes
To all the men rating this with 3 or more stars… I’m watching you.
rhys (0.5★) · 401 likes
Here is a quote from Araki I consider when reviewing movies similar to Pretty Baby: “We didn’t want to make a movie about childhood trauma and then traumatize the children in the process”
Which is exactly what Malle did. Brooke Shields was depicted in many sexual and highly-exploitative scenes whilst being ages 11-12 during filming. Which include but are not limited to: her playing a child prostitute, attempting to seduce men into bed, andauctioning off her virginity..
I genuinely… more