The life of Bettie Page, a 1950s pin-up model and one of the first sex icons in America, who became the target of a Senate investigation because of her risqué bondage photos.The life of Bettie Page, a 1950s pin-up model and one of the first sex icons in America, who became the target of a Senate investigation because of her risqué bondage photos.The life of Bettie Page, a 1950s pin-up model and one of the first sex icons in America, who became the target of a Senate investigation because of her risqué bondage photos.
- Awards
- 4 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA good friend of Bettie's, Hugh Hefner held a private screening of this movie for Bettie Page and a small group of friends. Bettie reportedly liked the movie and remarked that Gretchen Mol was much prettier than she was. Her only complaint was the film's title, saying "I was NEVER notorious!"
- GoofsThe film depicts Bettie as being OK with the fetish/costume/bondage modeling - and being quite naive as to the erotic uses of such photos. This is exactly opposite from how the real Bettie Page felt about modeling. Her attitude basically was that "God made us nude, so how bad could it be?" but the more extreme fetish posing fostered sexually deviant desires. The numerous fully nude shoots she did for amateur camera clubs bears this out.
- Quotes
Bettie Page: I'm not ashamed. Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden, weren't they? When they sinned, they put on clothes.
- Crazy creditscraft service - Grover Cleveland, craft service assistant - Benjamin Harrison
- ConnectionsFeatured in HBO First Look: The Notorious Bettie Page (2006)
- SoundtracksI Surrender, Dear
Written by Harry Barris and Gordon Clifford
Performed by Artie Shaw
Courtesy of Bluebird / Novus / RCA Victor
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Licensing
Featured review
I had a vague idea of who Bettie Page was, partly due to her appearance in the very wee days of Playboy (apparently, when she got her photo taken of her and her Santa hat, just that, she didn't know what the mag was). The movie, co-written and directed by American Psycho's Mary Harron, fleshes out the key parts of her life well enough. A southern belle of a church goer has some bad experiences and leaves them behind to seek better times in New York City, where she gets into modeling, and from there a lot more. Soon, she becomes the underground pin-up sensation, with bondage the obvious (and "notorious" of the title) trait attributed to her. The actress Gretchen Moll portrays her, and gets down the spirit of this woman about as well as she could, which is really a lot of the success of the film. She's not a simplistic character, even if at times her ideas of morality are questionable ("well, Adam and Eve were naked, weren't they?" she comments a couple of times). Apparently, the filmmakers leave out the later years of Page's life and leave off with her in a kind of redemptive period, leaving behind the photo shoots for Jesus.
In all, the Notrious Bettie Page is not much more than a kind of usual bio-pic presented by HBO films, albeit this time with the stamina for a feature-film release. The best scenes that Harron captures are Page in her "questionable" positions, getting photos of her in over-the-top poses and starring in ridiculous films of whips and chains and leather uniforms. This adds a much needed comic relief to the film's otherwise usual nature. It's not that the story behind it is uninteresting, which involves the government's investigation into the 'smut' that came out of such photos and underground magazines. But there isn't much time given to explore more of what is merely hinted at, with Page and her complexities or her relationships or to sex and the fifties. It's all given a really neat black and white look and sometimes it seemed as if Harron was progressing some of the black and white photos to be tinted more as it went along. It's a watchable view if you're not too knowledgeable of Bette Page, and probably for fans too.
In all, the Notrious Bettie Page is not much more than a kind of usual bio-pic presented by HBO films, albeit this time with the stamina for a feature-film release. The best scenes that Harron captures are Page in her "questionable" positions, getting photos of her in over-the-top poses and starring in ridiculous films of whips and chains and leather uniforms. This adds a much needed comic relief to the film's otherwise usual nature. It's not that the story behind it is uninteresting, which involves the government's investigation into the 'smut' that came out of such photos and underground magazines. But there isn't much time given to explore more of what is merely hinted at, with Page and her complexities or her relationships or to sex and the fifties. It's all given a really neat black and white look and sometimes it seemed as if Harron was progressing some of the black and white photos to be tinted more as it went along. It's a watchable view if you're not too knowledgeable of Bette Page, and probably for fans too.
- Quinoa1984
- Apr 29, 2006
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- The Ballad of Bettie Page
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,415,082
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $143,131
- Apr 16, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $1,778,006
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was The Notorious Bettie Page (2005) officially released in India in English?
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