Pretty Baby

Saw Pretty Baby (thanks, Lea!) A 13 year old Brooke Shields plays a girl raised in a brothel in 1910s New Orleans. There's a lot of extremely uncomfortable scenes mixed in with gloriously tawdry period dresses and amazing scenery. The film is fairly queasy but has such solid performances and such a pretty look to it, I can't bring myself to just dismiss it. The grotesque madam of the brothel I loved particularly. She's an ancient woman with a face that looks almost exactly like a Halloween mask. She speaks in a declamatory slur and pronounces monsieur "mess-your." She is the evil old heart of the brothel and a force of sensuality and dissipation. You can almost sympathize with the puritan protesters who come to angrily sing psalms at them.

But on the other hand, we get to know the world of the brothel, with it's eternal game of dress-up and make-believe. The johns seem almost gentlemanly and Brooke Shields's character, Violet, is delightful and winsome. There's a photographer of erotic photos (based on this guy) who hangs around and at first seems to be asexual, but later reveals his love for Violet. It's not as blunt and confrontational as Leon the Professional, but it's unsettling nonetheless. Doubly so for its seeming normalcy. Photographs are used in a symbolic way in the film: the photographer holds sway over the prostitutes because they like to be admired, Violet rebels at last after one too many eternal photoshoots. The closing scenes show Violet, older and in a less exploitative situation, but always being told to hold still and let herself be photographed.