Pretty Baby (1978) is an Academy Award-nominated historical fiction, dramatic film directed by Louis Malle. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The title is inspired by the Tony Jackson song, "Pretty Baby", which is used in the soundtrack.
The film is set in 1917, during the last months of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana. Hattie, a prostitute at the elegant home of Madame Nell, and her 12-...
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Pretty Baby (1978) is an Academy Award-nominated historical fiction, dramatic film directed by Louis Malle. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The title is inspired by the Tony Jackson song, "Pretty Baby", which is used in the soundtrack.
The film is set in 1917, during the last months of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana. Hattie, a prostitute at the elegant home of Madame Nell, and her 12-year-old daughter Violet are the only ones awake when photographer Ernest J. Bellocq comes by with his camera. He takes photographs of Hattie and fascinates Violet. Over the next few months, Nell arranges for the auction of Violet's virginity, Hattie marries and goes to St. Louis, abandoning Violet in the brothel. Bellocq continues to spend time with Violet, fascinated by her beauty, youth, and photogenic face. When the brothel eventually closes, Bellocq and Violet marry, ostensibly to protect her from the larger world. He is much older than...
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