Baby 1978 Starring Brooke Shields Portable - Pretty

While many have condemned the film for its exploitation of a minor, Brooke Shields herself has consistently defended Pretty Baby . At the height of the controversy, she famously stated, "It's only a role. I'm not going to grow up and be a prostitute". Decades later, in a 2018 interview with Vanity Fair , she even called it “the best creative project I've ever been associated with... The best group of people I've ever been blessed enough to work with”.

: The film ignited a "culture war" upon release due to its depiction of child prostitution and scenes featuring a nude 12-year-old Shields. It was banned in several Canadian provinces and received restrictive ratings in the US (R) and UK (X). Modern Availability & "Portable" Access pretty baby 1978 starring brooke shields portable

A comparison of versus modern standards Share public link While many have condemned the film for its

The lead roles were performed by Brooke Shields (Violet), Susan Sarandon (Hattie), and Keith Carradine (Bellocq). Decades later, in a 2018 interview with Vanity

| | Details | |-----------|-------------| | Child nudity | Brooke Shields appears nude in a few scenes (e.g., stepping out of a bath, lying on a bed). A body double was used for some full-frontal shots, but Shields confirmed she was naked for certain takes. Legal affidavits from her mother and Malle state no genitalia was shown. | | Sexualization of a minor | The plot revolves around a 12-year-old’s virginity auction and her life as a child prostitute. Critics called it child pornography disguised as art. | | Shields’ later comments | In her 2014 memoir There Was a Little Girl , Shields said she felt protected by her mother and Malle, but as an adult she understands the discomfort: “I can see why people were outraged.” | | Censorship | The film was banned in several Canadian provinces (e.g., Ontario) and faced cuts in the UK (not fully uncut until 2005 on DVD). |

Brooke Shields herself has since written (in her 2014 memoir There Was a Little Girl and the 2023 documentary Pretty Baby ) that she did not fully grasp the context as a child. She has spoken about the body double controversies (the nude shots of a "painter" putting paint on her back were a double; the shower scene was not) and the lasting trauma of being sexualized at 11.

The film runs 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes). It is unrated but carries the equivalent of an R for disturbing thematic content involving child sexuality, nudity, and adult situations.