Pretty Baby (1978 film)
1977 American historical drama film by Louis Malle / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pretty Baby is a 1977 American historical drama film directed by Louis Malle, written by Polly Platt, and starring Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Susan Sarandon. Set in 1917, it focuses on a 12-year-old girl being raised in a brothel in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans by her prostitute mother. Barbara Steele, Diana Scarwid, and Antonio Fargas appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the true account of a young girl who was sexually exploited by being forced into prostitution by her mother, a theme which was recounted in historian Al Rose's 1974 book Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District; it is also based on the life of photographer Ernest Bellocq, who photographed various New Orleans prostitutes in the early twentieth century.[6][7] The title, Pretty Baby, is derived from the Tony Jackson song of the same name, which is featured on the film's soundtrack.
Pretty Baby | |
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Directed by | Louis Malle |
Screenplay by | Polly Platt |
Story by |
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Produced by | Louis Malle |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
Edited by | Suzanne Fenn |
Music by | Ferdinand Morton |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 109 minutes |
Country | United States[4] |
Language | English |
Budget | $3 million[5]: 14 |
Box office | $5.8 million |
The project marked Malle's first American film production, as his previous works had been produced in his native France.[6] Filming took place, on-location, in New Orleans in the spring of 1977.
The film was released, theatrically, in the United States in April 1978, and screened at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or, winning the Technical Grand Prize. Ferdinand Morton's score also earned the film an Academy Award-nomination for Best Music. Although the film itself was mostly praised by critics, it caused significant public outcry and media controversy due to its depiction of child sexual exploitation, as well as the nude and semi-nude scenes featuring Shields, who was 11 years old at the time of filming, and whose character was a child in a relationship with a grown man.