The Notorious Bettie Page
Director: Mary Harron
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 2.0
Southern gal Bettie Page goes from abusive beginnings to pin-up beauty, whose giggly half-or-fully nude portraits show sex as fun and exciting, but were considered by members of Congress to be deplorable. The plot is so watered-down and flimsy - and obviously pro-pornography, anti-prude - there's barely a movie there, but Gretchen Mol is quite lovely as the title heroine, whose take-nothing-serious attitude towards her job is very sex-positive (and healthy) and a pleasure to watch (and the voyeurism inherent in all this is made quite obvious). The recent resurgence in the Art of Burlesque (with Dita von Tease and the Suicide Girls acting as leaders in the movement) has my curiosity meter peaking, although admitting that one finds such things appealing still brands one something of a pervert (and it might be too late in the game to actively deny this).
