Directed by Mary Harron
Written by Mary Herron, Guinevere Turner
Starring Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer, Lili Taylor, Jared Harris
Release Date April 14th, 2006
Published April 13th, 2006
The life of 50's pin up queen Bettie Page was bustling and tumultuous and full of controversy. To watch the movie of Page's life, The Notorious Bettie Page, from director Mary Harron and writer Guin Turner; Page herself was entirely oblivious to her place in the world. The film features an exemplary performance from actress Gretchen Mol who evokes Page in both looks and spirit, but is so soft hearted and soft headed it's impossible to believe.
Graduating from High School in the 1940's Bettie Mae Page (Gretchen Mol) was a noted member of the debate team who missed out on class valedictorian by the slimmest of margins. After marrying her high school sweetheart and attending college to become a teacher, Bettie tired of life in Tennessee. Finding her husband to be an abusive brute and teaching far too dull, Bettie found herself in New York City where a chance encounter on the beach with an amateur photographer lead her life in an extraordinary direction.
Posing for photo clubs where she willingly posed nude for strangers; Bettie met photographer Paula Claw (Lily Taylor) and her enterprising husband Irving (Chris Bauer). The Claw's had a thriving mail order business that shipped fetish photos to collectors all around the country. Soon Bettie was wearing black leather bustiers, high heel leather boots, and being trussed in various positions for photos that would make her a fetishist icon.
On a trip to Florida Bettie met another photographer, Bunny Yeager (Sarah paulson), who would further the legend of Bettie Page with photos that eventually landed in the pages of a very young Playboy magazine. All the while Bettie remains oblivious of her celebrity and of the somewhat unsavory of the photos she was posing for.
A scene between Bettie and a photographer, John Willie (Jared Harris), in which Willie asks Bettie how god might feel about her fetish and nude photos threatens to give Bettie a moment of depth. Unfortunately her answer is the kind of answer you might expect of a naive, southern, christian girl and not the queen of the fetish photo world. Bettie's cluelessness as portrayed in The Notorious Bettie Page, true or not to the real Bettie Page, comes off so unbelievable that it could actually have been played for laughs, it's not.
This is not the result of Gretchen Mol's performance which is vibrant and sexy. This is a real career shifter for Mol who, up until now, has been an eye candy substitute for directors unable to land a Kirsten Dunst or Scarlett Johannson. Mol has, in films like The Thirteenth Floor, Rounders and The Shape of Things, been a beautiful cipher. She failed at every turn to inhabit her characters beyond her good looks. That all changes in The Notorious Bettie Page where Mol combines sex appeal and warmth to create a fun loving, if not all that deep character. That's alright as depth is not what is asked for.
Director Mary Harron and writer Guin Turner are clearly big fans of Bettie Page. However, the hero worship leads them to basically just recreate moments in Bettie's life without coloring in the character with any kind of inner life. Could the real Bettie Page been nearly class valedictorian and a good christian and yet still be entirely clueless of the controversy her photos were creating? I find that impossible to believe as it is portrayed in The Notorious Bettie Page.
The film is framed by scenes of Bettie waiting to testify at Senator Estes Kefauver's (David Straithairn in a cameo) juvenile delinquency hearings. It is alleged that Bettie became aware of her controversial status at these hearings and that she may have decided to give up modeling because of them. However, as posited by the movie, the hearings were almost meaningless. Bettie waited for hours and never testified. The Claw's lost their business because of the hearings and that as much as anything ended Bettie's career.
The impact of the hearings is almost nothing beyond demonstrating the foolishness of Kefauver and his ilk. A bolder dramatic decision might have followed the alleged story that Bettie took seriously what she heard in those hearings and gave up her career. Instead the film follows Bettie to her re-christening at a church and her somehow continued ignorance to her place in the world.
There is still much for the Bettie Page cult to love about The Notorious Bettie Page. Gretchen Mol gives wonderful life to the icon of Bettie Page and the filmmakers delight in recreating Bettie's most famous poses. The film is crazy sexy and yet manages to capture one photographers perfect assessment of Bettie, that even when nude, she isn't really nude. She somehow remains innocent even as she is trussed and spanked. That, no doubt is why she was and is so popular. Page remains a wondrous dichotomy.
Gretchen Mol delivers a career transforming performance in The Notorious Bettie Page. The way she brings to life Bettie Page is fabulous and fun but also entirely uncomplicated and without depth. That is not Mol's fault. Director Mary Harron and writer Guin Turner show often that they are far more interested in hero worship than they are in telling the real life story of Bettie Page.
Fun but not very interesting The Notorious Bettie Page will satisfy Bettie Page fans and fetishists, those interested in watching recreations of her most favored poses. However, for those who want to know and understand the legend, The Notorious Bettie Page is a disappointment. The film appears to have no interest in developing Bettie Page, examining her inner life, or crafting her into a satisfying whole human being. The icon is well represented in place of the person.
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