The inspiration for Malle’s first American film was E. J. Bellocq’s remarkable photographic record of New Orleans’ red-light district, Storyville, in the early years of the twentieth century. A fourteen-year-old (Shields) is cheerfully sold into the trade by her mother (Sarandon) and becomes involved with Bellocq himself (Carradine), who finds her a compelling subject of erotic and aesthetic interest. Malle and cinematographer Nykvist achieve the luxuriant look of the period in vivid detail and combine it with a timeless sensuality that has made the film a succès de scandale to this day.