The Notorious Bettie Page (2006)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: This biopic only skims the surface of Bettie Page's life, leaving her as a cipher, and additionally fails to place her iconic status in historical context.
Movie Info
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Cast
as Bettie Page
as Irving Klaw
as John Willie
as Paula Klaw
as Bunny Yeager
as Estes Kefauver
as Maxie
as Marvin
as Preacher In Nashville
as Nervous Man
as Teacher
as Scotty
as Preacher In Miami
as Billy Neal
as June
as Jerry Tibbs
as Edna Page
as Mr. Gaughan
as Little John
as Gengel
as Mr. Grimm
as Marvin
as Jack Page
as Man On Street
as Director At Audition
as Guy 1 At Party
as Howie
as Young Jimmy Page
as Charlie
as Armand
as Roy Page
as Detective Farrell
as Battle
as Jack Kramer
as Photographer 1
as Bookstore Owner
as Jake
as Young Goldie
as Father Egan
as Dr. Henry
as Young Betty
as Art
as Model
as Court Official
as Guy 2 At Party
as Young Love
as Drunken Woman At Party
as Goldie
as Photographer 2
as Director At Screen Test
as Police Officer
as Photographer 3
as Marion
as Producer At Screen Test
as Jim
as Choir Singer
as Jim
News & Interviews for The Notorious Bettie Page
Critic Reviews for The Notorious Bettie Page
All Critics (134) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (59) | DVD (7)
A portrait of the centrefold as a closed book.
In Mary Harron's film biography of the nude and naughty pin-up girl, Notorious is synonymous with 'joyless.'
With her blue-black hair, Mol looks so much like Page that this could be a documentary, and her swings between modesty and exhibitionism are amazingly fluid.
... the movie's worth a look simply for Mol's career-boosting performance.
Disappointingly skin-deep and almost shockingly wholesome.
We can't always be sure what's archival and what's simulated because sometimes the filmmakers are trying to fool us. But their preoccupation with the manufacture of images keeps this exercise in exposure and concealment interesting.
Audience Reviews for The Notorious Bettie Page
A bit stiff as a film - biopic by numbers - but Gretchen Mol turns in an excellent performance, having to play everything including a free-spirited pin-up girl at her first acting lessons (i.e., acting like someone who doesn't know how to act, which strikes me as impossible to even think about let alone pull off).
Super Reviewer
Gretchen Mol completely captures the essence of Bettie Page in this biopic; she's a naive beauty who accidentally becomes an underground sex symbol. This film successfully places Page in America's sexual more transformation during the 1950s. The writing and direction are excellent, bringing the story of this charming beauty to life. Page was completely unashamed of ber body and her controversial photos; she's innocent yet wicked at the same time. Bettie Page was groundbreaking without realizing it. This film captures her innocent sweetness and unknowing naughty sexuality. While Page, with Irving Klaw and other photograthers, was groundbreaking, this film is not. It places her at the onset of the sexual revolution yet does not expound on that in any way. Its a straightforward story, not an in-depth sociological study.
Super Reviewer
Spanning from the 1930s-50s, this little indie film charts the life and career of legendary pinup model Bettie Page. It's a really well-meaning, but ultimately shallow film, and that's unfortunate. I liked that the film was rather classy, and kept from being too raunchy and exploitative, but at the same time, it feels a little safe, and they probably could have been edgier but still kept it pretty tasteless. I think a lot of the reasons for why the film falls short is that it really doesn't take risks, and has a pretty sketchy script. The film doesn't really give a lot of insights into the characters, it really skirts around some important aspects of her past (like an abusive marriage, childhood abuse, and a gang rape), and fails to incorporate these things into how they affected Page's later life. There's also not much of a character arc either, so the fact that she gives her career up to become a born again Christian seems far more striking than it should. The film shows how Bettie was clearly religious, even when she did risque modeling, but doesn't really provide a strong answer for why she gave it up. With that out of the way, I can get to the praises I have. The costumes, set design, art direction, and cinematography are absolutely brilliant. The era really comes alive in super faithful recreations. It's shot in gorgeous black and white, with some selective use of color that's been altered to make it too appear as if it's from the time period. Best of all has to be the wonderful recreations of the famous photos and video clips. The DVD features include a short film of the actual Bettie, and it is amazing how accurate the film captured her and the era. Of course, a major part of that success has to do with the casting and acting. Gretchen Mol is Page, and she is absolutely wonderful, and this is probably going to be her career defining role, and that'd be just fine. She perfectly captures Bettie's warmth, sweetness, sassiness, and naivete (indeed, the real Page never saw what she did as bad, and always treated the shoots, especially the bondage stuff, as just silly fun and make believe). She has the look down pat, and is the real reason to see the film, even if it isn't an overall success. The rest of the cast is decent, though overshadowed by Mol. My favorites have to be Chris Bauer and Lili Taylor as brother and sister duo Irving and Paula Klaw- the respectable business owners who did fetish shoots on the side. Cara Seymour is likewise good as fellow model Maxie, but in the end, this is truly Mol's movie. I did enjoy the movie, despite it's clear flaws and shortcomings. It does a lot of great things, even though it ultimately fails to totally satisfy. I sort of recommend it, if only for Mol and the technical stuff.
Super Reviewer
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