The Notorious Bettie Page

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Cast & Crew

Gretchen Mol
Bettie Page

Chris Bauer
Irving Klaw

Jared Harris
John Willie

Sarah Paulson
Bunny Yeager

Cara Seymour
Maxie

David Strathairn
Estes Kefauver

Lili Taylor
Paula Klaw

John Cullum
Preacher in Nashville

Matt McGrath
Nervous Man

Austin Pendleton
Teacher

Mary Harron
Director

Pamela Koffler
Producer

Katie Roumel
Producer

Christine Vachon
Producer

Mary Harron
Writer

Guinevere Turner
Writer

John Wells
Executive Producer

Mott Hupfel
Cinematographer

Kerry Barden
Casting Director

Billy Hopkins
Casting Director

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Critic Reviews for The Notorious Bettie Page

Audience Reviews for The Notorious Bettie Page

• Apr 11, 2014

  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).
  Daniel P Super Reviewer
• Jan 16, 2013

  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.
  Clintus M Super Reviewer
• Jan 07, 2012

  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.
  Chris W Super Reviewer
• Aug 12, 2011

  The Notorious Bettie Page directed by American Psycho director, Mary Harron is an interesting, but imperfect attempt at capturing the life of the first pinup queen Bettie Page to the screen. I felt the film lacked something that has made other biopics so good. The film is good and has a lot of solid performances, but the fact is, it lacked something to truly make it a good biopic. I felt that considering the subject matter, they could have made a truly unique biopic about this pinup sensation. The film is a good effort, but it could've used a bit more substance. The actress chosen to play Bettie Page, Gretchen Mol is perfect for the part. The films problem is that it touches only the surface of who Bettie Page was. The film doesn't truly go into vivid detail, like most biopics. The filmmakers left a lot of material out of the story, and just keep what is known about Bettie Page, her illicit modeling career. The rest seems to be left out, we never truly find out how she was brought up, and such. Those would have been things that they could've put in the film to make it a more rounded biopic. Fortunately there's a phenomenal cast that graces this film and they each bring something interesting to the screen. But like I said, the film lacks substance and effective development to really make this an interesting and memorable biopic. But this film is still worth checking out, for what it is; it's a good try at bringing Bettie Page's life to the screen.
  Alex r Super Reviewer

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