Friday Films: "Pretty Baby" November 19, 2010

Pretty Baby
Paramount Pictures, 1978 (rated R, 109 minutes)
Starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon
Directed by Louis Malle
In 1917 New Orleans, photographer E. J. Bellocq chose prostitutes of the red-light district as his subjects: the famed Storyville Portraits. In this fact-based movie, a 12-year-old brothel resident (Shields) naively enchants Bellocq (Carradine) until her mother (Sarandon) returns to claim her. French director Louis Malle’s level-headed treatment of a taboo subject has created a film of humanity and beauty. Master cinematographer Sven Nykvist etches an elegant visual evocation of times past and innocence lost.

Official Website: http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/Calendar_and_Events/Films/Pretty_Baby.aspx