What a dilemma! As a feminist, I feel that I should be deploring this movie right now. However, I enjoyed it immensely. I felt that the subject of child prostitution was very well handled, and that (surprisingly enough), Brooke Shield's performance was very textured and real. As outlandish as the whole thing was, Louis Malle really sucked me into that turn of the century red light district world, and thankfully did not bludgeon me over the head with exploitation or heavy handed tragedy. I'm still not very sure where the moral center of the movie was located, but I think that was Malle's point-- that it's a good idea to question and re-evaluate all taboo subjects to understand why they are taboo in the first place.