If you loved Vanya on 42nd Street, try Pretty Baby
A bridge between a film you've already seen and one most people haven't. Here's what they share, and what the second one does that the first one doesn't.
What they share
Both films are directed by Louis Malle, and they both carry the bittersweet mood tag, and they sit in Drama territory. If that's the register that drew you to Vanya on 42nd Street, the second film will land in a comparable space — through a different lens.
bittersweet
What Pretty Baby is
1910s New Orleans brothel raises a twelve-year-old whose mother trades affection for rent. A photographer’s lens deepens the transaction into something tender then brutal. The girl’s eyes stay with you long after.

