The Notorious Bettie Page DVD with Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor, Chris Bauer (R) +Movie Reviews

Gentlemen, start your engines

Cinephiliac | Los Angeles, CA | 05/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was familiar with some of Bettie Page's photographs, but did not know much about her life before going to see "The Notorious Bettie Page." Would it be sordid or the stuff of Greek tragedy? The iconic fetish and pinup model Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) adorned the covers of numerous men's magazines and starred in 1 reel "specialty films" featuring bondage themes and attire which made her a target for the Senate subcommittee investigation on pornography in the 1950's.

The faux spankings, uncomfortable looking lingerie and impossible footwear which became Bettie's bondage stock in trade seem rather tame and even humorous by contemporary standards--but keep in mind, in the 1950's, married couples were represented on television as sleeping in twin beds and the subjects of pregnancy and sexual intimacy were seldom discussed and never realistically portrayed. Bettie's frisky and playful sexuality must have been shocking.

Unfortunately, the movie skims over Bettie's personal history in such a way as to cause a bit of confusion. I realize there is a large period of time covered rather quickly, but the film fails to bring her life into clear context in not wanting to dwell on how she coped with the more unhappy times of her life. While I appreciate the filmmakers not wanting to be cheap or exploitative about Bettie's personal pain, the film sacrifices substantial clarity.

I understand Gretchen Mol gained nearly 20 lbs. to replicate Bettie's voluptuous curves and the physical transformation is truly amazing. But, more importantly, Mol brings real heart to the role. Although Bettie was victimized throughout her life and her story had all the makings of a self-destructive tragedy, she maintained a sunny and positive outlook and had an innocence that makes her quite endearing. Bettie also found solace and an anchor in her faith.

Ms. Mol's performance is the main reason to see this film. She is stunning and completely fearless. I would rate her performance 5 stars and the film 3-1/2 stars."

"Show some restraint"

girldiver | tangled up in blue. | 06/16/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A wonderfully produced film. Beautifully cast with Gretchen Mol as Betty Page. Gretchen Mol illuminates the screen with her portrayal of the 1950's pin-up queen. The film is rated R for its sexual content and nudity but I thought the film rather tame and left me more curious about the beginnings of Betty Page. Several scenes alluded to early sexual abuse and victimization in her personal life but didn't portray her as victim in her modeling career. I was left wondering about the woman who survived obvious hardships and yet came across as somewhat naïve about the photographs taken of her.

Perhaps it was the writing of the film that gave Betty Page a child's reasoning in a sexy package. This film gave her a sense of innocence that was at times mind boggling. When you pose in nothing but laced-up leather boots and a whip for a gentleman's magazine it's not just because you like beautiful pictures. Of course, they were beautiful.

The film was shot with both black and white film and what looked like Koda chrome color. The scenes of Betty Page in Miami were in beautiful koda chrome that lent itself to visions of vacations in the fifties where all the women are beautiful and all the men were Mr. Universe candidates. I loved the look of the film. Truly a visual delight and not just because Gretchen Mol was nude.

Before Hugh Hefner and Larry Flint there was Irving and Paula Klaw commissioning specialty photographs and distributing not so mainstream material of the time. The film opens to Betty Page waiting to be interview by the Senate investigating obscenity surrounding her photographs depicting bondage and whips.

I enjoyed the film and was mesmerized by its subject matter and visuals. I would have rathered had a better understanding of Betty Page but I got the feeling she was very complex even if she wasn't necessarily portrayed that way in this film.

Although the subject matter was serious at times you'll laugh and delight at the inner humor of Betty Page that very much comes across in the film.

girldiver:)"

Mol's Striking Performance Transcends a Luscious Albeit Skin

Ed Uyeshima | San Francisco, CA USA | 04/22/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Gretchen Mol so perfectly embodies the title role both physically and dramatically that you can almost forgive the somewhat lackluster treatment of 1950's pin-up model Bettie Page's early life story presented in this 2006 movie. In a deceptively facile performance, the actress successfully submerges her blonde, Nordic beauty to play the naive, raven-haired Southern girl with a refreshing lack of self-consciousness. Director Mary Harron and co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner deserve kudos for making a film that does not judge Page's notoriety or provide dime-store psychoanalysis on why she felt comfortable posing for fetish and bondage photos sold under the counter and by mail order. The offset to the filmmakers' approach is that we get a series of somewhat elliptical episodes that are intended to show how her persona was formed, all within the context of her guileless acceptance no matter how outwardly outrageous some of the things that are asked of her.

The time-spanning plot tracks Page from her abused adolescence in Nashville through a brief first marriage to a life-changing trip to New York that begins her inadvertent modeling career while she attempts to become a respectable stage actress. Tenaciously holding on to her strong religious beliefs, Page gains the attention of an army of shutterbug club photographers who have her pose in various states of undress. With each new session, she is asked to pose in increasingly deviant situations. As a framing device for the plot, the filmmakers use the 1955 Senate subcommittee hearing headed by Presidential hopeful Estes Kefauver, who is aggressively looking to clean up the pornography industry. In the eye of the media storm is Page, who views her scandalous photos as harmless expressions of her unfulfilled acting career. With a lot of questions left unanswered, the story simply stops at a point soon after her retirement from modeling with no indication of what happens to Page afterward.

On the plus side, the movie has a great period look with cinematographer Mott Hupfel bringing out a luscious sheen to the black-and-white camerawork with effective forays into saturated color, in particular, when the story moves to Miami. Other than Mol, Harron seems to encourage her cast to act in the stilted, exaggerated style of movies produced during the 1950's as Chris Bauer and Lili Taylor (who seems to be channeling Thelma Ritter) play the Klaws, a money-minded couple who run the photography studio responsible for most of her pictures; Jared Harris especially oily as bondage expert and magazine publisher John Willie; and David Strathairn in an extended cameo as Kefauver.

Above everything else is the intoxicating Mol, who holds the disparate events of Page's life together though her genuinely magnetic quality. Try to take your eyes off her as she unaffectedly poses au natural in the park for a gawking amateur photographer, and you see an actor completely comfortable with herself. But more importantly, look at her as her scandal-ridden reputation weighs on her as others point out how base and lurid her photos are, and you see a beacon into the radical transformation that Page must have experienced. It's a triumphant performance for an actress victimized by premature publicity heralding her as the next big thing nearly a decade earlier. I just wish the rest of the film reflected a little more of the depth that Mol does."

Great Performance in a Mediocre Film

Kasey Driscoll | 07/05/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Mary Harron, one of a slew of concerned filmmakers to appear in Kirby Dick's recent indictment of the MPAA This Film is Not Yet Rated, writes and directs her third picture. The Notorious Bettie Page is about the cult icon and pinup and bondage model that influenced pornography's entry into the cultural mainstream. Bettie Page unwittingly became kind of symbol of women's liberation long after she rediscovered Christianity. She slipped into the mainstream in variable flashes in comic books, music, television, and of course a new generation of inspired Goth burlesque models. This film is her biopic and unlike many biopics the melodrama is downplayed which is of course good for both the subject matter as well as the length of the picture (just 90 minutes). It comes off as a bit more honest and real then some other biopics but on the other hand it sacrifices being as entertaining for these same reasons. Strange considering the rumors of her violent life after she left modeling.

Bettie Page is played by Gretchen Mol and the rest of the cast is good but they are truly drowned out by a boring script, and of course Gretchen herself. Mol's performance is anything but boring and shows a deep understanding of what makes Page a worthy icon. Mol seemingly disappeared for years and then suddenly showed up and did this. I don't want to dwell on how daring she is for the nudity she does in this movie, because even without that kind of commitment and risk Mol deserves the highest praise possible. She was outstanding and was arguably snubbed of some awards.

Mol is the only great thing about this movie. Page was naive to her situation and just happens to not be shy about showing off her body. You can even see in some of the bondage photos with whips in her hand that she may as well be holding a duster instead...while delicious cookies are being prepared in the kitchen. That innocence combined with the suggestive subject matter is what makes Page so enticing and exceptional. Gretchen Mol got that vibe just right and it permeates throughout this film.

In short, Bettie becomes a model and eventually meets Irving and Paula Klaw who begin shooting her bondage photos. She then goes on to model for Bunny Yeager and those photos show up in Playboy. Bettie gets caught up in a senate hearing about pornography and then she finds Protestantism and leaves modeling. The film doesn't bother to address the more controversial and debated elements to her later life (those mentioned in The Real Bettie Page: The Truth about the Queen of Pinups).

Mary Harron's vision focuses on her career and then just before her disappearance. These early years are worth knowing about even though the story doesn't contain some of the dramatic elements we might find in say Walk the Line or Ray. So it sticks to the public's perception of Bettie. Instead of going with the tabloid drama of her later life it focuses on why she is an icon and that is overall probably more important anyway. There is more that troubled me though as the film also doesn't even touch on the political commentary it could have. Maybe that's alright as well because Bettie Page didn't seem to understand or even care about her role in fighting censorship. Something tells me there could've been a more exciting story here but on the surface The Notorious Bettie Page is a beautifully shot film with one great performance...perhaps that is all it needed."

Five star performance in three star film about pin-up Bettie

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 10/12/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In our silicon enhanced, post heroin chic pornographic society it's hard to imagine a world where pictures as tame as those shown in "The Notorious Bettie Page" would cause a scandal. They did however and this movie biography of pin-up and S&M model Bettie Page serves as a reminder of the conservative world where nude photos of natives in National Geographic were OK but not nude pictures of a white woman. Sending such pictures through the mail was a crime and it was a far different world. "Paige" captures the feeling of this world well with its black and white grainy photography but it's all surface and the film is saved by a stunning performance by Gretchen Mol as Page. She so completely invests herself in the role that when watching real footage of Page that is included as a DVD extra I felt as if it could have been Mol if not for the slight differences in the way the two looked.

Mary Harron's film follows Page from childhood where she was already practicing to be a model by pretending to pose for pictures by the boys to the end of her career. Always a religious person Page viewed her modeling career as little more than giving enjoyment to others. She felt that God gave gifts to everyone to use as best they could and that hers was to model and act. Shot in black and white except for some splashes of color during sequences where Page is on vacation in Florida, "The Notorious Bettie Page" has a number of strong performances including a nice turn by Lili Taylor as one of the photographers who launched Page's career in S&M films and stills.

***Spoilers ahead***

Although the film is enjoyable I felt that it turned into a rote biography and we never really got underneath Page's skin to find out the impact of a gang rape, her failed marriage, long term relationships and how they might have colored her career. This isn't the fault of Mol but the writer and director. We're not given the big drama scenes that we need to find out more. Many of the other roles including that of her long time boyfriend/actor from New York are underwritten and they aren't given much to do on screen. While we do see scenes portraying the senate investigation about pornography that occurred (where she was cited by name as one of the models)and the fact that she was called as a witness again Harron never provides us with a chance to dig behind the cheery facade that Page puts up most of the time.

***End spoilers***

The DVD comes with a commentary with actress Mol, director Harron and writer Geneviere Turner. We also get a "making of" featurette about the production of the film. As mentioned previously there's actual color film footage of Page that is fascinating to watch. It's definitely worth a rental although I wouldn't buy it."

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