Once you get past the fact of a naked preteen Brooke Shields, Pretty Baby is a well-made film that does an excellent job of evoking a specific time and place, and of developing the unique relationship between a precocious, sometimes bratty twelve-year-old prostitute and the quiet, sometimes temperamental photographer who loves her. The nudity, by the way, does not take place during any love scenes, though at one point there is nudity after one.<br /><br />Brooke Shields's Violet is energetic, talkative, blunt, and friendly. What you see is what you get, not that her character is shallow. She's been raised in a whorehouse by her prostitute mother and takes things in stride that for most people would be traumatic, such as having her virginity auctioned off at the age of twelve and being left at the brothel for a time when her mother leaves to get married. She's an odd mix of child and woman, the sort of girl who wants a grown man to have sex with her but also plays with the doll he gives her. Having spent her entire life around adult sexuality, she's convinced she knows everything about men.<br /><br />However, in the words of Bellocq, the photographer, "Some men are different." He arrives at the whorehouse to take pictures of the women employed there and shows much more passion about his need for good light in his photography than about any of them; the madam immediately concludes that he's gay (an "invert" or "cream puff"). For the most part he appears to be asexual, appreciating the beauty of Violet's mother's naked breasts but only because of how well they'll photograph. As he tells the curious Violet, "I have no time for hate or love," and when he falls for her it seems to be a surprise to him. He's the anti-Humbert. He doesn't actively seek out young girls, and if he and Violet end up involved, it's because of her pursual of him.<br /><br />Their relationship is tumultuous yet committed, with tender embraces, screaming fights and tickling kisses. Bellocq's not always very much more mature than Violet, especially if she interferes with his beloved photography. The end of the film is either a tragedy or a relief, depending on your opinion about their romance. Either way, it's emotional.<br /><br />Susan Saradon is good as Violet's mother, and the minor characters, from the drug-addicted madam to the friendly black piano player to the stuck-up German prostitute to the various clients of the brothel, come across as real people. The sets and costumes are gorgeous. There are a couple of flaws - some parts of the film take a few minutes longer than they really need to - but all in all it's a good film that becomes deeper and more complex the more times you see it.