Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 11/18/2003
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 109 Minutes
Flags: Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
After making a series of acclaimed and controversial films in his native France, director
Louis Malle made his American debut with this disturbing but visually beautiful story about
Hattie (
Susan Sarandon), a prostitute working in New Orleans' Storyville district at the turn of the century. When
Hattie becomes pregnant, she opts to keep her baby and gives birth to a daughter named
Violet, raising her in the brothel where she continues to work. Twelve years later,
Violet (
Brooke Shields) is old enough to attract the attentions of the brothel's customers, but emotionally has one foot in the adult world of her surroundings and the other in the naïveté of childhood. With
Hattie's consent,
Violet's virginity is auctioned off to the customers of the house; but for
Violet, the pull between childhood and adulthood becomes most clear -- and most painful -- when she draws the affections of
Bellocq (
Keith Carradine), a photographer who has been working on a photo series about Storyville prostitutes.
Violet's blend of childlike innocence and adult sensuality is profoundly attractive to him, but their relationship quickly becomes problematic, especially when
Hattie leaves
Violet behind to get married.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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