The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

Average rating

(57%)

Starring:	Gretchen Mol \| Chris Bauer \| Jared Harris \| Sarah Paulson
Director:	Mary Harron
Studio:	ICON HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time:	90 mins
Genres:	Drama
Languages:	English
Released:	March 19, 2007
Also available on:

From Mary Harron (I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, AMERICAN PSYCHO) comes THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE, a provocative exploration of sexuality, religion and pop culture as she takes us into the 1950s and the fascinating world of famous pin-up girl, Bettie Page. In an incandescent performance, GRETCHEN MOL stars as Bettie Page, who grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary fetish poses made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day.

Highest rated reviews

18 out of 24 people found the following review helpful:

This will turn your image of Betty Page on its head

Charlotte Pollock from London, England, 13th August, 2006

This will turn your image of Betty Page on its head Charlotte from London, (unknown) Betty Page was a beautiful and highly successful pin-up and fetish model in the 1950's her carrier although short has had a lasting visual impact. Virtually forgot for many years she was rediscover in the 70's and she is now the most famous pin-up/fetish model and her look is still emulated by people who seek an alternative to mainstream pornography. If you love the Images of pin up art like Vargas Girls and Betty Page then you have to see this movie not only is its it beautifully shot but it has a great female cast. Lili Taylor is brilliant as a ballsy photographer and Gretchen Mol is absolutely beautiful as well as really believable as the great Betty herself. Not only is this good clean saucy fun its also thought provoking which is no surprise as its co produced and co written by the amazing Guinevere Turner (of Preaching to the Perverted,L-Word Watermelon Women). My only criticism of the film is that it left me wanting to know more about what she was actually like both as a child and after she stopped modelling. If you're a man or women who appreciates the female form see this movie; if you're a pornography hating feminist see this movie too.

Read all highest rated reviews

16 out of 18 people found the following review helpful:

The Notorious Bettie Page

SAI81 from from Tonbridge, 29th November, 2006

A biopic of the most famous glamour model of the 1950's. Bettie Page (played here by Gretchen Mol) is an elusive subject. She's never given interviews about her experiences as a glamour model and is now, aged 83, living as she has for more than 50 years, in obscure retirement. It is then understandable that The Notorious Bettie Page often feels more like a chronology of its subject than a true biopic but that makes it no less frustrating. The main attraction is Gretchen Mol's performance as Bettie. She looks the part, certainly, but that's only half the battle. What really wins out, and powers the film, is Mol's wonderfully sunny performance she manages to make Bettie niave, but not stupid, sweet, but not sugary. What she manages to capture, in essence, is what little is known about Page and her attitude to her work. The Oscar talk is early yet and, while I'm not sure it's entirely justified, I'd not be disappointed to see Mol nominated. The performances around her are also strong and Mary Harron captures the period beautifully but the overwhelming feeling that you're merely watching the events in a life rather than really learning about the person is hard to shake and drags the film down as a whole.

Read all highest rated reviews

12 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Gretchen Mol is spot on

TristanWhite from , 26th September, 2006

This film succeeds because the attention to detail is excellent, the acting is great, the switching between colour and black and white is effective, and for once this is a biopic which seems to be really accurate with the life of the subject. Gretchen Mol is spot on - do a Google search for Bettie Page's official website to see some of the original pics - most of the bondage and spanking ones Mol does in the film are found in their original 1950s versions on the Bettie Page site. The only downside of this film is that Bettie Page's life was not really that fascinating, meaning that the film itself is not that fascinating. Do not let this detract you from watching it, though. This is a fine film, professionally executed. Ignore the 18 cert - with the exception of a single use of the F word, and a brief (distant) glimpse of muff, this film had 15 cert written all over it.

Read all highest rated reviews

7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Disappointing, but Gretchen is wonderful.

A Customer from Edinburgh, Scotland, 27th May, 2007

I was a little disappointed by this movie. Gretchen Mol puts in a very fine performance and paints a very endearing Betty - the nude model whose pouts and grins exude innocence despite all the bondage gear. The look of Page is also captured wonderfully. What I felt let this picure down was the lack of insight into many of the characters. Betty herself is the subject of a gang rape and family abuse but this is merely mentioned in passing and there is no exploration of how this gelled with a career in porn. The ending kinda wraps things up out of nowhere too,in a bit too much of a hurry. A fine central performance but a sketchy movie overall. I was left wondering what point, if any, they were trying to make.

Read all highest rated reviews

Most recent reviews

*** May contain spoilers ***

Great film

A Customer from York, 13th November, 2008

I didn´t know anything about Bettie Page beforehand. I did read some of the reviews with people complaining that enough wasn´t made of the abuse she suffered when she was younger. I can´t comment on that, but I don´t think, for me at least, it spoiled the storyline, and in some ways it was good that it didn´t make an issue of such things as it really emphasised her innocence. When she was posing for all those pictures, she really did just see it as dress up and didn´t understand the perversion that came with it. You really saw the shock when she overheard what she did at the court room and realised what effect those kinds of pictures could have on some people. Otherwise, it is an interesting story, and well shot and made - mostly in black and white. I love the 50s era - no interest in the history of porn though - but I did enjoy this film.

Read all recent reviews