The Notorious Bettie Page

Bettie Page is certainly an interesting cultural touchstone in American society. But I'm not sure she's interesting enough for a feature film. At least that's what I took away after seeing Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page, which details the life story of the southern Christian girl who became a pin-up and bondage model in the fifties, and became a cult figure years later.

I haven't been a fan of Harron before--I did not care for I Shot Andy Warhol or American Psycho. She has a detached style--there's little emotion that jumps off the screen in her work, and especially with Bettie Page. Although Gretchen Mol gamely brings Page to life, there just doesn't seem to be much there. The story of the film is really how others react to her. Perhaps there just isn't that much to Page as a person to make it interesting enough. I found the E! True Hollywood Story about her more interesting, frankly.

There is some nice photography. The film changes from black and white to color depending on where Bettie is. During the Bunny Yeager photo shoots in Miami, the film is tinted in the rich colors we would associate with fifties postcards of Florida (or nudist magazines of the era). But that's enough to sustain interest, so I give this film a C.