Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
In 1917 New Orleans, a 12-year-old girl is raised in a brothel by her prostitute mother.
Pretty Baby is a visually sumptuous period piece shot by Sven Nykvist with extraordinary care — the brothel interiors glow with Vermeer-like warmth, earning genuinely exceptional marks for cinematography. Brooke Shields is remarkable for her age and Keith Carradine and Susan Sarandon deliver strong performances. However, the plot meanders without strong dramatic momentum, and the ending feels unresolved and unsatisfying, leaving key emotional threads dangling. As a subject, child prostitution in New Orleans brothels was audacious for its time but the film doesn't fully exploit its provocative premise with narrative depth, keeping Novelty at a respectable but not outstanding level.