The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

Tonight I decided to forgo viewing yet-another-still-unwatched Blu-Ray in favor of another film in my collection, The Notorious Bettie Page. Aside from being one of my favorite films of all time, it was my own little private tribute to Miss Page, who passed away yesterday at age 85 as a result of a heart attack.

It was the first time I've seen the film in some time. I originally saw it with my brother at the now-defunct Pocono Cinema & Coffee Shop in East Stroudsburg, the only theatre in the Northeast PA to screen the film (as far as I know, at least). I also purchased the sole copy of the DVD available at Best Buy on the day of its video release in September 2006. This was also the first time since I saw it in the cinema that I enjoyed the flick in beautiful widescreen, courtesy of my HDTV and an anamorphic transfer. I should also note that the film was shot in gorgeous black and white, to bring the viewer back to the fifties, with brief sequences in almost unrealistic color (mostly during Bettie's stays in Miami), which made it a really good looking movie...striking, actually.

Before Playboy, there was Bettie Page. In the early to mid 1950s, Bettie Page was known as the Pin-Up Queen of the Universe, but she is just as much recognized today in the new millennium. Her look is cool and very unmistakable--the dark hair with her trademark bangs, the beautiful eyes that make you truly believe she's looking at you and only you, and that famous smile. She will remain eternally beautiful...an absolute knockout.

The Notorious Bettie Page was directed by Mary Harron, whose previous films include the brilliant I Shot Andy Warhol and American Psycho. I had the privilege of meeting the incredibly talented Miss Harron back in 1996 at a screening of I Shot Any Warhol here in Wilkes-Barre, as part of a film series created by my brother called Cafe Cinema.

The movie encompasses the years 1936 (Bettie's teenage years) through 1955 (the Senate hearings on "Smut"). Told in flashbacks; but not in the traditional sense, but the film is bookended by scenes of Bettie waiting to testify in the Senate hearings.

The film stars Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page, and she is absolutely brilliant in the role--her physical resemblance to the real Bettie Page (especially when she smiles) is astonishingly authentic, and her portrayal of Bettie Page is multifaceted and quite fully developed. She also completely personifies her role as the Nashville girl from a religious and conservative family who, after a traumatic early life (including sexual abuse by her father, physical abuse by her first husband, and a sickening gang rape by a group of young men--mercifully this is strongly implied and wisely not shown onscreen), moves to New York City to start a new life.

Though she studied in Tennessee to be a teacher, she quickly realized she hated teaching and wanted something more. She takes odd jobs as a typist, a seamstress (she makes all of her own clothes as well), a beauty pageant contestant (where she wins second prize, a set of pots), and she takes acting classes and goes on auditions, without much success except from producers, whose offer to "help her" via sexual favors are dutifully rejected by the moralistic Bettie.

Walking on the shore, she is asked by an off-duty police officer and part-time photographer if he could take her picture. She soon becomes his model for cheesecake photographs, and he even gives her suggestions for improving her look--including stuffing her bra "underneath" and creating her trademark bangs. her reputation as a reliable model leads her to more photo sessions with a variety of specialty photographers--in lingerie and in the nude (back only, for being photographed in the nude from the front in the 1950s could lead to prosecution).

Her modelling assignments lead her to the photo shop and studio of brother and sister Irving and Paula Klaws, played by Chris Bauer and the amazing Lili Taylor (who previously starred in her Oscar worthy performance as Valerie Solanas in Harron's first film I Shot Andy Warhol). In addition to selling photos of movie stars, the brother and sister photographer team also cater to clients interested in specialty and unique photos and short films of women in boots and other fetish wear, as well as bondage (very underground in the conservative 1950s). Seeing this challenge as merely play acting and fun, and knowing that both Irving and Paula are true professionals, she sees no harm in posing for these new types of photographs and, as she says, "helping people." These photo sessions turn Bettie Page into an underground sensation with a large (and curious) fan base. Despite what she wears or who she's whipping, she always appears cheerful and professional. Her modelling sessions continue in sunny Miami with renown photographer Bunny Yeager (Sarah Paulson) taking beautiful nude shots of Bettie for postcards and the popular nudist magazines.

Even with a ball gag in her mouth, Bettie remains a moral Christian woman. She doesn't smoke, she doesn't drink, she chastises those who swear in her presence, and she attends church regularly. She's also always a lady, polite and soft spoken, as was expected of women in the 1950s. When asked how she justifies her work as a cheesecake and bondage/fetish model, her response is, "Well, Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden, weren't they?" She views the photo shoots as acting and "Dress-up" and completely harmless--and if she's able to "help people" who view her photos, all the better. When asked by a collector (Jared Harris) what she thinks Jesus would say about what she is doing, she prophetically responds, "I hope that if he's unhappy with that I'm doing, he'll let me know somehow."

Following the Senate hearings, where she overhears a father describe how his son, inspired by her very own photos, killed himself in an unnatural way, Bettie feels confused and guilty regarding her photos. One night wading in the water by moonlight. changes everything. She sees a cross of white light in the sky, which leads her to a church holding a mass. Inspired by the priest's sermon of it never being too late for a sinner to "surrender your life to Christ," she forsakes her word and devotes herself to Jesus Christ.

The two final scenes in the film are quite striking. The first features the first (and only) purely natural color sequence in the entire film. Bettie Page is in a park reading from the Bible and distributing religious literature to interested passers-by. A man asks her is she is Bettie Page. When she tells him she indeed is Bettie Page, he asks her if she is ashamed of her past as a model. Her response begins with her usual "Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden." BUT then she adds, "When they sinned, they put on clothes."

The very last scene in the film returns to black and white where, at the insistence of the Senate and her brother Irving, Paula Klaw is destroying the photo negatives and film reels featuring Bettie Page in bondage and fetish acts. However she destroys some...then pockets some. Had it not been for Paula's decision not to destroy all of their collection, a substantial portion of Bettie Page's film and pictorial work would have been lost to time. Today, many of these films are available through Something Weird Video, a video company that specializes in unique films from that era.

I loved The Notorious Bettie Page. Not only for its fascinating subject, who is as relevant today as she was nearly 60 years ago, but also for its presentation of female sexuality pre-feminism and its depiction of the narrow view of sex in the morally conservative 1950s America.

I also truly appreciated Gretchen Mol's amazing performance as Bettie Page. Her skillful direction by Mary Harron (who also co-wrote the screenplay with indie favorite Guinevere Turner) never turns Page into a victim, despite the hardships and abuse she suffers before moving to New York, but rather as a moral young woman who just happens to be photographed in fetish clothing or even nude. Mol's Page knows who she is and is truly happy with herself, regardless of hoe others tend to see her--whether it be the moral majority or some of her more twisted admirers." Even when she is dismissed after an okay audition for a play, "It's quite a treat to meet the notorious Bettie Page," she remains proud of who she is, even if it is misunderstood by many.

It was also nice to see Lili Taylor and Jared Harris reteamed for a second time in a Mary Harron film (they previously co-starred together as assassin and victim in Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol). Even with a small budget, Harron was also able to entice a strong cast of supporting players, including David Strathairn as the chair of the Senate hearings and the legendary Austin Pendleton (who seems to appear in every single film I see these days) as Page's acting teacher.

The DVD also includes a short bonus clip of the real Bettie Page performing a striptease as a bonus feature.

The Notorious Bettie Page is definitely one of the best films I've ever seen and is always worthy of another screening...and another...and another.

Bettie Page

(1923-2008)