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Hang-ups laid bare as Bettie gets blue
THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE
Directed by Mary Arron
Certificate 18
IT has been quite a year for looking back at the darker side of 1950s America. Too often it has been portrayed as the golden decade, perhaps because of what had come before.
The 1930s saw the Depression. The 1940s saw the pain of world war, so it is not surprising that the relative peace, economic power and cultural boom that flourished in the following years means there is an aspect of rose-tinted spectacles when directors turn their lens in that direction.
But something was rotten in the United States. As George Clooney revealed in his impressive directorial debut Good Night and Good Luck, America was intolerant of personal views that did not follow the God-fearing philosophies of the immensely influential Conservative Christian Right.
This is laid bare in the Notorious Bettie Page, a carefully crafted and thoughtfully shot story of the model who the Right thought was out to corrupt America’s youth.
By following Page’s life from her own suburban upbringing – just the sort of world the Senate investigations into her actions were desperate to protect – through to the hearings where she had to defend her gently titillating pictures. Gretchen Mol has a sassy yet innocent class about her as Bettie.
There is a simplistic style about her as she does her day job. We learn she first came to New York when she fled from an abusive marriage. She soon wins notoriety as a soft-porn pin up, and then starring in skin flicks in which she deploys a little bondage on her fellow actors.
But when a commission in to juvenile delinquency calls her to give evidence as she is seen as a force for corruption, her apparently victimless money earner is damned.
There is a nice retro feel to the film, with a great soundtrack.
Director Mary Arron makes good use of black and white footage to make you feel like you are watching old news reels. |
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