The issues of prostitution and child pornography were not far from critics ' thoughts . In his '' New York Times '' review Vincent Canby wrote : " Mr. Malle , the French director ... has made some controversial films in his time but none , I suspect , that is likely to upset convention quite as much as this one – and mostly for the wrong reasons . Though the setting is a whorehouse , and the lens through which we see everything is Violet , who ... herself becomes one of Nell 's chief attractions , '' Pretty Baby '' is neither about child prostitution nor is it pornographic . " Canby ended his review with the claim that '' Pretty Baby '' is " ... the most imaginative , most intelligent , and most original film of the year to date . " Similarly , '' Chicago Sun-Times '' critic Roger Ebert , who gave the film three stars out of four , discussed how " ... '' Pretty Baby '' has been attacked in some quarters as child porn . It 's not . It 's an evocation of a time and a place and a sad chapter of Americana . " He also praised Shields ' performance , writing that she " ... really creates a character here ; her subtlety and depth are astonishing . " On the other hand , '' Variety '' wrote that " the film is handsome , the players nearly all effective , but the story highlights are confined within a narrow range of ho-hum dramatization . " '' Mountain Xpress '' critic Ken Hanke , looking at the film from the perspective of 2003 , said of '' Pretty Baby '' : " It was once shocking and dull . Now it 's just dull . " The film won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival
1978 Cannes Film Festival
1978 Cannes Film Festival
Pretty Baby (1978 film)