The Notorious Bettie Page
Thursday, 03 Aug 2006 11:35
Gretchen Mol gets down to her smalls as Bettie Page
Directed by Mary Harron, out August 4th at most cinemas, starring Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor and Chris Bauer, running time 100 minutes.
In a nutshell…
Saucy, sweet, provocative, kitsch, award-winning
What's it all about?
Gretchen Mol stars as the "notorious" Bettie Page, a seemingly naive Southern Belle who arrives in 1950s New York full of dreams of an acting career. She quickly discovers that people are more interested in her ability to look good scantily-clad, soon rising to fame as a leading fetish model and celebrity on the city's pornographic underbelly.
Always remaining far more innocent than her many fans, Page is blissfully unaware of the controversy surrounding her images, as well as her growing notoriety, until she is subpoenaed to appear before the US senate committee on indecency charges, following the apparent suicide of one of her adolescent fans.
Who's in it?
Mol delivers a near-universally acclaimed turn as the eponymous anti-hero. Tipped as the next big thing back in the 1990s, Mol's career to date has failed to live up to initial expectations, but her performance as Bettie Page is a compelling reminder of why she was so hotly tipped.
Joined on stage by the always-reliable if under-sung Lili Taylor, Mol leads a cast impressively adept at pulling off the film's mix of weighty subject matter and 1950s kitsch.
As an example…
"Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden. When they sinned, they put clothes on."
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
High, the critics are already raving about Mol's performance as Bettie, with the odds looking good for a Best Actress nomination.
What the others say
Described as "surprisingly sweet" by Empire, The Notorious Bettie Page is seen as delivering a Technicolour take on the potentially dark history of pornography. Mol is credited with carrying the film, with Total Film describing her portrayal as the perfect blend of naivety and purity.
So is it any good?
Yes, although much of the credit does belong to Mol for her joyously superb performance as Bettie. Co-written by director Hatton – whose past credits include the equally ambiguous American Psycho – it's hard to know whether we are supposed to sympathise with Page or condescendingly see her as a sweet ol' girl. Hatton has made the decision to gloss over the sexual abuse Page suffered early in life and stops the drama short of her depressing decline in later life, thereby evading a potentially weightier discussion about pornography.
Unquestionably fun, the film does manage to capture the essence of 1950s America, helped in no small part by Hatton's decision to shoot primarily in black and white. Where it fails to be thought-provoking it succeeds in being laugh-out-loud funny, with Bettie's naivety providing the perfect vehicle for some delicious one-liners.
7/10
Kate Webb
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