After seeing Eva Ionesco in Roman Polanski's 'The Tenant', and then digging a little deeper into the facts of her life, I remembered I had the DVD of 'Pretty Baby', which was partly inspired by her story, even if another story (that of photographer E.J. Bellocq and the prostitutes of Storyville, New Orleans) was obviously at least an equally big inspiration. Louis Malle begins the portrayal of this Storyville slowly and with care; we enter a whorehouse and get to know its inhabitants as human beings trying to get by in their day to day. The prostitutes, the pianist, the madam, the bouncer, the customers and... the children. It doesn't matter how careful you'll go about telling a story like this, it wíll have its impact. Then the story proceeds, and young Violet's initiation becomes a fact. Malle finds a balance between telling the facts as straight up as possible and showing a world that is filled with hopes, loves and other human follies and reveries against all odds.
The nudity of Brooke Shields feels rather natural, but we all know that sort of thing doesn't fly anymore - and with good reason. The acting is pretty good, especially Keith Carradine's, but Shields' job is truly commendable. The story is just about satisfactory, but it sort of meanders without really digging deep into certain dramatic aspects - maybe that is actually the charm of it.
A good 7 out of 10.
The nudity of Brooke Shields feels rather natural, but we all know that sort of thing doesn't fly anymore - and with good reason. The acting is pretty good, especially Keith Carradine's, but Shields' job is truly commendable. The story is just about satisfactory, but it sort of meanders without really digging deep into certain dramatic aspects - maybe that is actually the charm of it.
A good 7 out of 10.