Movie Review: The Notorious Bettie Page

By Anne Brodie Apr 13, 2006, 1:05 GMT

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). ...more

'Wink', 'Titter', 'Escapade', 'Adults Only', 'Hush Hush' and 'Nudity for Healthy Living', those were the names of the under the counter men's magazines in which Bettie Page, a Christian woman from Nashville, donned high heeled, lace-up boots, a whip and chains and became a fetish icon.

In the sexually repressed fifties, the US Senate came down hard on 'smut' in its campaign to reform juvenile delinquents and maintain a moral standard. Corner newsstands were targeted and soon so were producers and distributors of adult films and photographs.

Owners of such 'smut' were forced to destroy their products, so the Bettie Page oeuvre was considerably compromised. But what makes the campaign so 'fifties' are the images of Page, whether she is naked (top naked only, please)or spanking a girl, or wearing a body pole and crossing the floor on all fours, seem intensely naïve by today's standard.

Page's photo sessions are shown as fun and familial; the models, shooters and business people were friends who ate around big tables, took country holidays to shoot 'nature scenes' and had a great time together.

This close, professional family enjoyed each other and never insinuated themselves into Page's life. She wouldn't' stand for flattery ('the devil's tool') and preferred to talk about Jesus, even in one remarkable scene in which she's chained to a wall waiting for the next shot.

Page perhaps ingenuously claimed that they laughed and goofed around, even as they wore ball-gags and leashes, that it was all good, silly fun. There was no sexual threat or tension and men never appeared in Page's work.

Page's attitude to nudity was spectacularly unfettered; she was a nature lover and completely at ease with her body. She never judged herself or her colleagues because 'Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden and didn't wear clothes until they were sinners' she exuded a free spirit and joy in the buff.

So she was genuinely shocked when the feds came down on their mom and pop business.

Gretchen Mol stars as Page, and did extensive research into her life through films, a rare interview and talking to people Bettie knew.

A few years ago, Mol was touted as the next Hollywood pin-up, but her career never took off. This performance of another pin-up may change that. Mol's statuesque figure is all natural, her face honest and she exudes sincerity and strength.

Mol interprets Page as a retiring type, when she's not posing nude, deeply connected to her spiritual side and a loner who loved to walk on the beach and in the woods and sit alone.

The real Page is reportedly doing that a lot lately, after 'disappearing' decades ago. Her whereabouts are a well-guarded secret, and she reportedly continues to do missionary work and feels no shame for what she did in that brief innocent moment in time.

Page was 'of' the fifties, a story like hers wouldn't exist in another era.

Harron directs the pic with great respect for the past. The art direction is gorgeously detailed, bringing fifties to life in glorious black and white. But certain scenes are in colour, to highlight Bettie's freeing trips to Florida, the nature shoots she loved and her religious awakening.

The production company has gone to great lengths to recreate the time, using actualities to set scenes from Page's bucolic country home and her urban life with a stop by the Senate.
 
Harron attempts to explain Page's psychological background in two revealing incidents in Nashville, but ultimately she lets them lie and chooses unwisely not to expand on them.
           
The Bettie Page persona has experienced one revival after another. In the seventies her image became standard fare on T-shirts and a comic book 'The Betty (sic) Pages' came out in the eighties. Dozens of websites celebrate the “s and m” cutie and Harron's film adds the sweetness and innocence that defined Page, the church-goer who brought the underground fetish industry to the surface.

And how!

Limited USA and Canadian release April 14th. MPA rated R  for nudity, sexual content and some language