Tracker Pixel for Entry

​‘Pretty Baby’: Wilson Profiles Shields

Cinema | June 25th, 2023

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Filmmaker Lana Wilson’s “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” uses two parts (now on Hulu following a world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival) to explore the career of its title subject, the well-known model, actor, performer and celebrity.

Life in the spotlight began for Shields when her mother Teri supposedly announced – just five days after her daughter was born – that she intended to guide the child into show business. True to her word, Teri soon booked an Ivory Soap gig when Brooke was eleven months old.

Wilson, who previously directed “After Tiller,” “The Departure,” and “Miss Americana,” continues to show a keen critical interest in mental health, society, and gender, but this latest project might be the least successful of the set.

In contrast to Davis Guggenheim’s outstanding “Still,” in which virtually all of the onscreen and offscreen talking is done by Michael J. Fox, Wilson opts for the more typical approach in which a sizable number of friends, associates, and cultural commentators lend their voices to sound bites large and small. As a result, the noise often obscures, rather than illuminates, the “meaning” of Shields in her various guises, iterations, and public personae.

Not surprisingly, Shields blows each and every one of the other talking heads out of the water; she’s easily and confidently her own best interpreter and authority.

Additionally, Wilson’s decision to arrange the events in roughly chronological order means that the most intense and fascinating content unfolds during the first episode. By the time we have caught up to the mature Shields as she deals with feelings of guilt and frustration accompanying postpartum depression (over which Tom Cruise publicly made an utter ass of himself), the individual segments have become wobbly and out of balance.

As Susie Bright describes it, the vibe “plays out like a VH1 ‘Behind the Music’ episode” and “By not meeting the moment, the biopic deadends in ennui.”

The movie’s lack of candor in several areas is most likely the result of demands made by Shields to secure her participation, even though Wilson has claimed that nothing was off limits.

In the introduction of his March 2023 Shields interview in “The New Yorker,” Michael Schulman identifies what I think is the turning point in the public perception of the star. The release of the ghostwritten college advice book “On Your Own,” “revealed that [Shields] was a virgin, a fact that transformed her from a symbol of libertinism into one of Reagan-era chastity.”

Setting aside the creepy, obsessive nonsense surrounding the very concept of “purity,” which looks an awful lot like another mechanism used by men to control women, none of the participants nor Wilson adequately account for the shift. Instead, there is an oddly distancing rundown of relationships with Michael Jackson, Dean Cain, and Andre Agassi.

Wilson goes to great lengths to acknowledge – if not completely reckon with – the spectacle of sexualization Shields experienced as a child and a minor. For her part, Shields maintains to this day the same steadfast refusal to accept any shame or regret for “Pretty Baby,” “The Blue Lagoon,” “Endless Love,” and the controversial Calvin Klein spots.

Her on-camera poise, evident from childhood and demonstrated in multiple talk show clips of older men commenting on her physical appearance, communicates an astute awareness of the unusual circumstances of her entire life.

Brooke Shields has never known a time without fame and the punishments and privileges that go with it. 

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comDairy Queen restaurants across the country will raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals during Miracle Treat Day on Thursday, July 31. At least one dollar from every Blizzard…

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comFM Pride Week returns to the Fargo-Moorhead metro August 3-10. A snapshot of events are listed below. Discover event descriptions and locations as well as volunteer opportunities online at…

August 28, 6-8 p.m.Plains Art Museum, 704 1st Ave. N., Fargo See this major exhibition firsthand and hear about Rimer Cardillo’s work from the artist himself at 7 p.m. Cardillo is an internationally renowned multidisciplinary…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I’m going to go ahead and say it. I have trust issues with a lot of things and artificial intelligence (AI) is one of them. Yes, it’s a tool that can sit shotgun and make your everyday tasks…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comTrump: the new man for all seasonsFive hundred years ago, Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More of England refused to write a letter to Pope Clement VII of the Roman Catholic Church asking that he annul…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com There seems to be a renaissance in Italian restaurants in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. It’s a welcome change from just sporting an Olive Garden as a lone option. No offense to Marilyn Hagerty’s…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Bluegrass is a genre of music that is often associated with the American South. Many people would express incredulity at being told there is a thriving bluegrass and folk music community…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com There are so many memorable moments in the short life of musician Jeff Buckley that filmmaker Amy J. Berg could easily have gotten lost in an endless highlight reel. The veteran documentarian,…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com 2025 marks three years of the Annual Vergas Area Backroads Art Crawl. The art crawl is sponsored by the Vergas Arts Club. The Arts Club also happens to be part of the Vegas Community Club and both…

Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comPenn & Teller are returning to their roots. The legendary magic and comedy duo will appear on the Crown Stage at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, Minnesota, where they first…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Dr. Marc Sapir, MD, MPHjessica@pellienpublicrelations.com Across America, families are quietly struggling with a rising challenge: how to care for aging parents, siblings, grandparents, neighbors and friends. Most seniors want…

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.com Working in the Bakken oil fields of the Williston Basin is so different from my home in Fargo. I'm not judging, because the people working and living in western North Dakota are very…