The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Mary Harron

Writers:

Mary Harron (written by) &
Guinevere Turner (written by)

Release Date:

21 April 2006 (Canada)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

The Pin-Up Sensation That Shocked The Nation.

Plot:

The story of Bettie Page, uber-successful 1950's pin-up model, one of the first sex icons in America, and the target of a Senate investigation (based on her bondage photos).

Plot Keywords:

Senate | Pin Up | Bondage | Model | Investigation

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Gretchen Mol	...	Bettie Page
Chris Bauer	...	Irving Klaw
Jared Harris	...	John Willie
Sarah Paulson	...	Bunny Yeager
Cara Seymour	...	Maxie
David Strathairn	...	Estes Kefauver
Lili Taylor	...	Paula Klaw
John Cullum	...	Preacher in Nashville
Matt McGrath	...	Nervous Man
Austin Pendleton	...	Teacher
Norman Reedus	...	Billy Neal
Dallas Roberts	...	Scotty
Victor Slezak	...	Minister in Miami
Tara Subkoff	...	June
Kevin Carroll	...	Jerry Tibbs

Also Known As:

The Ballad of Bettie Page (USA) (working title)
The Last Days of Bettie Page (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for nudity, sexual content and some language.

Runtime:

USA:91 min | Canada:100 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | UK:18 | Ireland:15A | Australia:MA | Japan:R-15 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

HBO Films

Trivia:

The final scene, shot in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, is a re-shoot. It had originally been filmed in black and white, but it was decided that it looked too flat.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: A 1956 Pontiac convertible is seen in the pre-March 1955 beach scene where Bettie meets the young man in yellow.

Quotes:

[for her photo shoot, Bettie is tied up wearing slinky lingerie]
John Willie: Do you mind if I ask you a question, Bettie? What do you think Jesus would think about what you're doing now?
Bettie Page: Well, Mr. Willie, I've thought about this quite a lot and I'm not really sure if I know anymore. I think God has given us some kind of talent and he wants us to use it. That's why he gives it to us.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Indie Sex: Extremes (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Mucha Muchacha

Nororious or safe?

If this film strikes you (as it did us and, apparently, others departing the theater) as disappointingly thin, it may be because the subject herself is mildly disappointing. The film faithfully presents us Bettie Page as she probably was: a playful almost-innocent from the rural South whose career as "the pinup queen of the universe" was for her just goofy, natural fun. Her eventual moral qualms, religious conversion and sudden departure from nude and bondage modeling are biographically accurate, yet hard to understand given how untroubled she seemed by her livelihood.

There are many reasons to see this film even so, not least of which are the amazing b&w noir cinematography of W. Mott Hopfel III (complete with old fashioned wipes and dissolves), the 1950's-faithful acting of the cast under the direction of Mary Harron, pitch-perfect performances by some of our most underrated supporting actors (including Chris Bauer, Lili Taylor, Sarah Paulson, Austin Pendleton, Dallas Roberts and Victor Slezak), not to mention the Oscar-worthy and technically difficult lead performance of Gretchen Mol.

Ms. Mol does several scenes fully naked and most others in amazing period lingerie and "specialty" costumes (gloriously assembled by costume designer John A. Dunn), yet she astonishingly maintains Bettie Page's unstudied pleasure in her lush body. To watch Ms. Mol as Ms. Page, an aspiring actress, progressing through degrees of progressively less "bad" auditions and student acting scenes is to see a truly fine actress in complete control of her craft.

The script does effectively bring us into 1950's America, where childhood sexual abuse, lawless abduction and rape, and the legal suppression of brands of pornography which today seem laughably tame, is a reality. 50's New York is evoked with seamlessly-inter cut news reel footage. 50's Miami comes alive in super-saturated, 16mm-style color. The real Bettie Page seems to scamper, smile and pose before us, and yet the effect is curiously lightweight, barely lewd and not at all dangerous.

How odd that bondage's greatest icon should be so lacking in venom, and that this technically excellent biopic should have so little sting.