See the life story of the pinup icon Bettie Page onscreen
Bettie Page, a fetish goddess in black leather and bangs, was the first pinup of choice back in the Eisenhower era. Bettie’s life could be easily turned into a kinky S&M story; however, the director of “The Notorious Bettie Page,” Mary Harron, who co-wrote the script with Guinevere Turner, doesn’t do the expected.
The director of “American Psycho” (2000) and “I Shot Andy Warhol,” her debut film, added a female touch to the Bettie Page story by making male vanity and greed the core of the movie. Her timeless theme here is the gap between real women and male sexual fantasies. Bettie, a sweet-natured girl from Nashville, a firm believer in God and the natural glory of her own body, giggled at the men who liked to see her model and pose with whips and chains, and remained untouchable.
Gretchen Mol looks quite at ease portraying the notorious Bettie, much like the pinup icon herself felt when posing for her famous pictures. The main events of Bettie’s life – a bad marriage, a gang rape, a clash with a senator (David Strathairn) on a moral crusade – are merely sketched in the movie. It’s clear that Mary Harron has no interest in a psychological study, instead focusing on recreating the era – New York and Florida in the 1950s – shooting in black and white with an occasional splash of color to depict the time of repression in which sexual hypocrisy thrived.
The real Bettie reportedly objects to the word “notorious” in the title. After all she was able to reconcile God and her past, and expects the viewers to do the same.
Kinopanorama (19 Shota Rustaveli, 287-1135).
From March 20 until April 2, 6:30 p.m.
In English with Russian subtitles
Tickets Hr 10 to Hr 24.
