Synopsis
Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day.
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Cast
- Gretchen MolBettie Page
- Chris BauerIrving Klaw
- Jared HarrisJohn Willie
- Sarah PaulsonBunny Yeager
- David StrathairnEstes Kefauver
- Lili TaylorPaula Klaw
- Tara SubkoffJune
- John CullumPreacher in Nashville
- Cara SeymourMaxie
- Austin PendletonTeacher
Recommendations
- 83
Entertainment Weekly
The movie, in a sense, is just like Bettie's photos: all glorious surface. The Notorious Bettie Page captures, with seductive finesse, how Bettie Page happened, yet what it leaves us with is the tantalizing enigma of a girl who couldn't truly be ''bad'' because she made sex divinely delicious. - 75
The A.V. Club
Mol nails it, in a performance that should earn her a comeback on a Heath Ledger-like scale. - 75
ReelViews
The film takes a little time to explore the political landscape of the time, and features an Oscar-worthy lead performance. - 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Its tone is semi-parodic, with lurid black-and-white cinematography and brassy, tongue-in-cheek music. But Harron stops well short of camp. - 70
The New Yorker
A lightweight retelling of Page's life, a sketch, really, which doesn't probe very deeply into Page's bizarre mixture of exhibitionism and piety. But some scenes that might have been borderline exploitation, or just corny…turn out to be ineffably beautiful. - 70
The New York Times
Principally a work of gorgeous surfaces, shot mostly in silvery black-and-white film by the cinematographer Mott Hupfel, with an occasional splash of saturated color. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
While Gretchen Mol delivers a delightfully exuberant lead performance, the film itself seldom goes beyond skin deep. - 50
Variety
A superficial look at the '50s sex icon, picture feels like it was researched via press clippings rather than attempting a fresh rethinking of its era and provocative subject.
