THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (2005)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
You've seen the countless photographs, posters and T-shirts. There are also those famous color films, particularly "Teaserama." We are talking about the original pin-up girl, the one and only Bettie Page, the God-fearing Nashville girl who became a tigress in a time when sex was too controversial (and still is). Mary Harron's newest film, "The Notorious Bettie Page" is an attempt to understand the era that represented Bettie Page and it largely succeeds, but it lacks a dramatic focus on the central character.
Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) is the black-haired girl with the famous bangs who has dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie star. She does try her damnedest, including going to acting school, but men mostly see a desire to photograph her. First, she is photographed in dresses, then slowly in bondage situations, sometimes wearing black leather and black boots, and sometimes nothing at all. Through the 1950's, Bettie treats all these sexual photographic situations with a wink, as if she knows she is in on the joke. Consider a couple of scenes where the photographers shoot some film of her mimicking a spanking on another scantily-clad female. In other words, all the photos, pin-ups and color films she made are not hardcore at all (though they were considered smut and illegal back then).
Bettie does suffer a few traumatic incidents. In one intense scene, she is gang-raped. What makes it intense isn't so much that director Harron pans away from the trauma of it - it is Bettie's face that shows her acceptance of what men want. And through the scant scenes shown of her failed marriage and boyfriends, Bettie never seems to be truly affected by what she does for a living - she is too innocent and naive and goes on with the show. She remembers her father sexually abusing her but she never lets it intrude on her job of looking sexy with a black leather outfit and a whip.
Director Harron shows a nostalgic reminder of the era in terms of the atmosphere and look of the 50's - the exquisite black-and-white and Technicolor photography is about as good as it gets. The clothes, the costumes and the graininess of the era is wisely paid attention to in great detail. In the end, perhaps, I wish there was just as much attention paid to the character of Bettie Page. Page is portrayed as winsome, sexy, innocent and Mol shows all those layers with aplomb. But there isn't much more to the character, and no real focus on some measure of pain she might be feeling because of her past sexual abuse. Perhaps the real Page didn't feel it because she refused to exhibit it or talk about it - this is the repressive 50's after all. She seems agreeable to any man asking her for a date, and even asks a man out during her days in Miami. But Harron is not interested in a character study - this is merely a character we are asked mainly to look at and see her as the icon she later became.
And as for Bettie Page's notoriety, there is only a wisp of it in the story. Page was never asked to testify in the Senate hearings on her pin-ups or her films - they didn't need her since the case against such perversions were categorically seen as an anathema to the culture. It was a crackdown on pornography by Congress, which continues to this day.
"The Notorious Bettie Page" is an alluring, visually dazzling film to watch but it doesn't involve us in Page's life. The film doesn't vibrate with energy about such a tantalizing rare subject - it assumes a conservative pose on such matters. At times, it feels like it is a film made by Congress rather than a tantalizing filmmaker like Mary Harron, who showed explosive fireworks with fiery character dynamos in "American Psycho" and "I Shot Andy Warhol." I enjoyed the film for its rare glimpse of a forgotten subject and for Gretchen Mol's credible performance. In many ways, the film can stand as the iconic portrait it is, along side the merchandise of Bettie Page. That in itself is more ironic than notorious.
