Pretty Baby is a vibrant picture of American life long ago swept under the carpet, a time when communities tolerated red light districts where certain forms of vice prospered. Nell's house is a going concern that serves fine meals and keeps (we're told) clean women. It's also a community of sisters, not exactly sterling citizens but a group that coheres when it comes to issues like taking care of little Violet and her brother.

Beautiful Violet is a whorehouse version of a battle boy - she simply knows no other form of existence and defines her little life in terms of her future ability to be profitably seductive to men. The whole point of the film is in its horrible rituals that were then an accepted part of underworld living. Like a inverse debutante, Violet is displayed naked on a litter to a table of men who will bid on the right to deflower her. Violet is no victim of white slavery, but was simply born into prostitution, the same as her mother Hattie.

Hattie is an emotionally volatile woman coping with things as best she can; her occasional tantrums make perfect sense, as her world certainly doesn't. Beautiful enough to pass daughter Violet off as a sister, she keeps the child at an arm's length. Both Violet and her baby brother are more the children of the whole house. When Hattie is able to go away she leaves both children behind, with a promise to return for them. There's no complaint from Nell or the other women. The house is like a lion's pride where the females are in control and everyone looks after the cubs.

Nobodycan accuse Louis Malle of exploitative motives as he's one of France's most prestigious filmmakers. Pretty Baby is an excellent place to see the so-called European sensibility at its best. By contrast, I can't think of an American director of the time who could approach this subject unless it were a grindhouse sleaze feature. Most American studio pix with content remotely approaching this were incredibly crass ... just think of the insulting, exploitative Mandingo. Hollywood sex just had to be dirty.

Malle's film was written and co-produced with Peter Bogdanovich's former design partner, Polly Platt, and benefits from (shall I risk saying this?) a sensible female viewpoint. Shocking content is presented in a matter-of-fact way. All kinds of female functions in bed are accepted as real and morally neutral. What goes on in Storyville is presented as a social and economic reality, and not a moral outrage. We're allowed to use our own intelligence to figure out that it's no place for children, and the ones who live there are being given a warped outlook on life. Nobody regrets the houses being closed, we're just concerned for the fate of the women and kids.

Malle gives us a very French picnic-on-the-river scene at one point, that presents a fleetingly idyllic view of Storyville life. Unlike other movies that concentrate on the oppressive nature of prostitution, these people all seem to be saving their money. When it comes time to get out of town, all have decent clothes to wear and substantial piles of luggage.

For curious types, the young Brooke Shields is seen naked in many scenes, several of them with men in situations where there could be no question that she was fully involved acting as a child prostitute. There are no sex scenes per se, but it comes real close. Brooke 'talks the talk' in a number of scenes and is around plenty of suggestive adult sexual activity.

Shields is remarkable, Susan Sarandon is complex, and Keith Carradine shines. The previous token member of the Robert Altman stock company gives an excellent characterization of an artist who slowly becomes obsessed with a child. Diana Scarwid is among the other prostitutes, along with the interesting casting of Barbara Steele. Both aquit themselves well. Also making a strong showing is Antonio Fargas as Nell's sly but wise piano player.

Sven Nykvist's glowing warm photography matches Malle's artful camera placement and gentle storytelling. Seeing this lovely disc makes me want to read more about the production of the film; I wasn't aware that this was a one-time Malle/Platt team-up.

Paramount's DVD of Pretty Baby is a beautiful transfer in a plain-wrap package. The only thing resembling an extra is a French-language audio track. Not every title can be a special edition.

Savant has his prudish side and Pretty Baby's willingness to present the world of old-fashioned brothels using real children is shocking in a way that limp 'adult films' seldom are. But Louis Malle and Polly Platt's film is historically valid and artistically-minded, allowing us little choice but to give them the benefit of the doubt. Good movie.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Pretty Baby rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: none
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: November 15, 2003