The Notorious Bettie Page

Dir: Mary Harron

2006

****

In her third film as director, the brilliant Mary Harron decided to tell the tale of one of the worlds most famous women who no one really knew anything about - The Notorious Bettie Page. It’s a funny series of steps – Schizophrenic would-be-assassin, to serial killer, to 1950s Pin-up icon, but yet again, Harron proves herself as being one of the most versatile directors working today. The truth is that The Notorious Bettie Page was meant to follow I Shot Andy Warhol but funding fell through at the last minute. Harron was handed a copy of American Psyhco and co-wrote a script with Guinevere Turner. After the film’s success, Harron and Turner secured funding for their Bettie page biopic but certain elements had to be changed. Liv Tyler – who was initially offered the part of page – had since dropped out of the project and the two other actors originally considered, Ione Skye and Sherilyn Fenn, were also dismissed as Fenn was deemed too old by this point and Skye was pregnant. Gretchen Mol eventually won the part and it is now difficult to see anyone else depicting the icon – she is the spitting image. We first see Bettie Page as an ambitious, naïve, and devout young Christian woman who longs to leave Nashville, Tennessee, following a childhood of sexual abuse, a failed wartime marriage, and a gang rape. In 1949, she departs for New York City, where she enrolls in an acting class. Amateur photographer Jerry Tibbs discovers her walking on the beach at Coney Island and she agrees to model for him. He suggests she restyle her hair with the bangs that would become her trademark. Bettie becomes a favorite of nature photographers (including Bunny Yeager, who films her posing with two leopards), and she has no hesitation about removing her clothes for the photographers when asked. Before long images of the shapely brunette reach brother-and-sister entrepreneurs Paula and Irving Klaw, who run a respectable business selling movie stills and memorabilia, but also deal with fetish photos, magazines, and 8- and 16-millimeter films for additional income. Their top model Maxie takes Bettie under her wing, and she soon finds herself wearing leather corsets and thigh-high boots while wielding whips and chains for photographer John Willie, frequently at the request of Little John, a mild-mannered attorney with unusual tastes. Bettie is innocently unaware of the sexual nature of the images that rapidly are making her a star in the underground world of bondage aficionados. Bettie is called to testify before a 1955 hearing, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver, investigating the effects of pornography on American youth. Though she waits patiently for 12 hours to answer the committee's questions, Kefauver (for reasons unknown) decides to not bring her before the committee and dismisses her without an explanation. When it becomes apparent that casting directors are more interested in her notoriety than in any acting talent she might possess, Bettie heads to Miami Beach. Drifting along with limited career prospects and a virtually nonexistent social life, she stumbles upon a small Evangelical church, walks inside and rushes forward to embrace Jesus Christ during the altar call. Although she insists she is not ashamed of anything she has done in her life, she appears happy to leave her past behind and return to her spiritual roots by preaching the word of the Lord on street corners. Back in New York, Irving is stressed out and suffering from ill health. He decides that his sister and he must burn their vast collection of erotic photos, and movie footage to avoid potential prosecution. Paula reluctantly complies with her brother's request, but secretly saves the negatives of many of Bettie's pictures and movies from the bonfire, therefore ensuring that Bettie's work will survive for future generations. While not all of the story is 100% historically accurate it does tell the story and set the scene pretty well. The film is shot in both black and white and in colour, which hardly ever works, but works well here. The black and white is rich in contrast and the old colour stock used to approximate the cheerfully vivid hues of Technicolor common in 1950s film really does take the audience back in time. However, the film belongs to Gretchen Mol. Harron said from Mol's first audition, she was her first choice for the role. Harron said, "Emotionally she was so right. She has a natural sort of decorum. So many people made the mistake of being very vampy. At that point, I said, 'Well, you know, it's more important to get the inner Bettie than the outer Bettie.” but after she studied Page’s moves and was dressed as her she really became her. As well as being a relatively faithful biopic (the real Page said she loved it and then said she hated it in separate interviews) it also handled the content rather well. While never defending pornography of acknowledging what it has become, the film is more about nostalgia – a warning maybe – but the innocents of the time is obvious as well as the roots of where it all went wrong. It’s a tremendously well-balanced film, visually pleasing and with a perfect leading performance. It’s an overlooked gem.