Every once in a while I will comment on films that relate to nudist and naturist themes.In "The Notorious Bettie Page", Gretchen Mol is completely convincing as the innocent yet naughty pin-up icon of the 1950s. She manages to portray a bondage sex symbol while at the same time maintaining a playful naivety that keeps her close to her Southern religious roots and strict upbringing.
Following a failed marriage and a traumatic gang-rape experience, Page moves to New York where she eventually begins to take acting lessons, which lead to posing for cheesecake photography.The director, Mary Harron, never allows the photo sessions to devolve into the world of total sleaze - the photographers are all "nice" and the customers are successful people who are just looking for something "different" to relieve stress. At least it's all OK in Bettie's mind, she seems sincere when she explains to her boyfriend that it's all innocent dress-up, that when she is dressed in leather while sternfully wielding a riding crop it's all done for fun and a few laughs.
The heart of the film is one scene when Bettie is posing for a photographer. They are alone in the woods, and when the young man suggests that she not remain in the sun for too long lest she develop tan lines, she unashamedly removes her top, and then her bottom. From a nudist/naturist point of view, the scene is quite beautiful, and Mol seems completely relaxed and natural in her nakedness.
Page eventually winds up in Miami where the film turns from gritty black and white to rich saturated color, and she winds up modeling for Bunny Yeager, who observes that when Bettie is "nude, she doesn't seem naked". It is with Yeager that Page's photos become more art than titillation, the images evoke a nostalgia for an era of sexual awakening in America, and contrasted with what is available today, it's hard to believe that anyone could have been offended.
But there was public outrage, and the Kefauver hearings labeled the bondage pictures as "disgusting" and ruined the careers of Irving and Paula Klaw, who introduced Bettie to the world of fetishism. As Page sits and waits to testify, she hears the gut-wrenching story of a man who found his son dead and naked in some sort of self-satisfaction bondage ritual gone awry. It's only at this point that Bettie begins to re-evaluate her career. It's not completely clear if she walks away because of this event, or if she knows her days as a model were numbered anyway due to the fact that she was in her thirties.
Mol's performance never completely lifts the veil on the mystery of Bettie Page. While we see her completely naked on the outside, we never really get to see what made her tick inside. Perhaps this is deliberate on the part of the filmmakers, but it does prevent the film from being completely successful since it lacks an emotional pull.
Years later when Page is preaching the Bible in a park, a man recognizes her and urges her not to be ashamed of what she did. Bettie responds emphatically that she is not ashamed, that Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden of Eden and only put on clothes after they had sinned. It's not clear what sin made Bettie Page put her clothes back on.
Despite some flaws, "The Notorious Bettie Page" is recommended for Mol's terrific, uninhibited performance and some handsome cinematography. The film does not make judgement on its subject matter, but rather evokes a fond nostalgia for the era and adds a bit of gloss to the already large mystique of the Bettie Page mythology.
Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked, Bettie Page, Gretchen Mol, The Notorious Bettie Page, naked, movies, film, pin-ups
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