22 out of 23 people found the following review helpful:

A

A Customer from Hampshire, England, 4th March, 2007

The very quality of the much of the acting, the effective period sets and the use of the camera make this 'difficult film' particularly complex. Set in the 'liberal' New Orleans brothel in 1917, this is contextually a long way from our contemporary environment and modern attitudes. There are scenes which are horrific - the 'auction' of the young girl's virginity, for instance - and some of the nudity is on the edge by contemporary standards - but an interesting range of relationships are explored and the overall effect is sensitively managed to a sad conclusion.

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10 out of 13 people found the following review helpful:

a Louis Malle classic

Paul Jay from London, England, 2nd June, 2007

Bold picture from the excellent Louis Malle. Sometimes uncomfortable to watch, but an important film in cinamatic history ..

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5 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Subtle and well acted drama

A Customer from Essex, England, 8th April, 2007

Despite being filmed in 1978, this is a good-quality picture. The plot is pretty transparent but interesting. It didn't particularly pull at the heart strings as I felt it should given the subject matter. Brook Shields does well; understandable that this film launched her career, despite its controversy.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

what a mother

RICKWILL47 from from Denton, Manchester, 26th May, 2007

my first observation is that this film would not get made today, because of the nudity of the child (brooke sheilds) character! the film however is worth watching as it shows how men and women are willing to use and abuse even the very young to satisfy decadent and hedonistic lifestyles. the acting is amazing especially from the kids, given the difficult and adult material involved. watch and learn!

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*** May contain spoilers ***

A bit of a shock

A Customer from Near Norwich, England, 19th February, 2010

I watched this and didn't really expect to see a 12 year old girl get used as a prostitute after she was bid upon as if at an auction. A real eye-opener on the era in which it was set, I am sure this sort of thing DID go on and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is glad the majority of the world has moved on morally from this. I know I could have read the info/reviews but doing this before a film kinda spoils it for me. The film was an eye opener and I'm not saying it wasn't a good film, just that I got a surprise!

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0 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Sickening!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Customer from Colchester, 29th November, 2009

In a nutshell this film is a cheap way of distributing child pornography!! The story line and the acting is so poor. Who in their right mind would cast a child to act in ADULT senes?Please do NOT rent this film......... it's sickening!!!!!!!!!!!

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0 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Uncomfortable...

A Customer from Bangor, 29th January, 2009

1 star for making an asthetically beautiful film but thats about all I can say in its favour. I'd wanted to see this film because I thought it might have something interesting to say about the subject matter - but it really didnt. I just found the experience difficult, uncomfortable and very slow... Both Sarandon and Shields look very young and extraordinarily beautiful in this film and their strained mother/daughter relationship has an air of authenticity about it but I didnt really get what the director was trying to say - if anything. The infamous scene of the auction of the childs virginity was just painful and bizarre to watch...and well there isnt really much else to say about it other than Shields' repeated pubescent nakedness was undeniably gratuituous - all in all distasteful and pointless.

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0 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

'Pretty Baby'

A Customer from Salisbury, 17th December, 2008

A very powerful performance, by a very young Brooke Shields, get over the content and see the move as is should be then its a worth renting and watching

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