The Notorious Bettie Page

The Notorious Bettie Page follows a young woman from a conservative religious upbringing in Tennessee who moves to New York hoping to act. Stage work proves elusive, but she finds success as a photographer's model, appearing in pin-up and fetish pictures that make her one of the most photographed women of the 1950s. Her image brings unwanted attention: a Senate inquiry into pornography turns her into a target and, at the same time, a lasting erotic icon. The film weighs her devout faith and cheerful manner against the notoriety of her photographs.

Mary Harron directed and wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner, her collaborator on American Psycho (2000). It sits third in Harron's filmography, after I Shot Andy Warhol (1996) and American Psycho, and before Charlie Says (2019) and Dalíland (2022). Gretchen Mol plays Bettie Page, with Chris Bauer, Jared Harris, Sarah Paulson, Cara Seymour and David Strathairn among the credited cast of 55.

Released in 2006, the film runs 91 minutes and is a co-production between Killer Films, John Wells Productions and HBO Films. It took about 2 million dollars worldwide, a modest figure. On IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from roughly 12,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.3 out of 10 from 195 votes. A critics' rating of 6.4 out of 10 from 131 reviews places it close to the audience scores.