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The Notorious Bettie Page

Play trailer Poster for The Notorious Bettie Page R 2006 1h 30m Biography Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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58% Tomatometer 131 Reviews 51% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Following a failed marriage and a gang rape, Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) arrives in New York City and soon begins a career as a model and an aspiring actress. She becomes a celebrated pinup girl but experiences a series of missed opportunities and failed relationships.
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The Notorious Bettie Page

The Notorious Bettie Page

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Critics Consensus

This biopic only skims the surface of Bettie Page's life, leaving her as a cipher, and additionally fails to place her iconic status in historical context.

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Critics Reviews

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Linda Ruth Williams Sight & Sound 09/28/2006
The Notorious Bettie Page may be nothing but a series of beautiful poses, but audiences will be more than happy with the result. Go to Full Review
Olly Richards Empire Magazine 08/04/2006
3/5
A small, strangely sweet tale well told. But this is all about Mol, who puts in a performance that gives her a very early lead on next year's Oscar race. Go to Full Review
Ben Walters Time Out 08/03/2006
A portrait of the centrefold as a closed book. Go to Full Review
Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault 09/20/2022
C
Conveying neither the joy nor the agony of its subject, "The Notorious Bettie Page" emerges as a real emotional zero — shocking, coming from a director of Mary Harron’s intelligence and vision. Go to Full Review
Debbie Lynn Elias Behind The Lens 11/13/2019
It was often said that even when Bettie Page was nude, she wasn't naked. Same is true of The Notorious Bettie Page. Visually stunning. Enjoyable. Funny. Entertaining. And clothing optional. Go to Full Review
Dan Sallitt Senses of Cinema 10/16/2018
A rote assembly of as many character quirks as could be dug out of the public record. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alec B 10/13/2023 Gretchen Mol was born to play this part. Its interesting how Mary Harron explores the innocence in the type of photography and films Bettie Page did and wisely sidesteps a lot of the clichés associated with the biopic genre by keeping the film small. See more Gareth v 06/19/2023 A solid but far from perfect biopic on the life of pin-up Bettie Page. Gretchen Mol is perfectly cast in the lead. See more 10/17/2021 It did nothing to make me more or less interested in the titular character, partly because there wasn't a whole lot to the character after the 1950's. She was basically just a normal, kinda boring, model who just happened to be one of the first and most notorious bondage fetish models from the 1940's and 50's after which she moved to Florida and become an Evangelical Christian, leaving the spotlight behind. Truth is, there probably wasn't a whole lot of source material to make a biographical movie on. See more steve d 06/26/2020 Gretchen Mol makes a great Page and the film is a really well done biopic of an extremely interesting woman. See more 12/21/2019 This is a bio. movie based on the life/times/career of racy X rated picture model of the 50's. It follows her story to old age as she left the life behind to become a born again christian. Not really all that much to the movie, I seen this movie once passed the time alright movie. See more 05/10/2016 During the 80's I had a picture of Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe on my wall. I didn't know anything about Bettie Page until now after watching this film. I didn't know during the 50's you could be arrested for buying porn. Gees how life has changed. See more Read all reviews
The Notorious Bettie Page

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Movie Info

Synopsis Following a failed marriage and a gang rape, Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) arrives in New York City and soon begins a career as a model and an aspiring actress. She becomes a celebrated pinup girl but experiences a series of missed opportunities and failed relationships.
Director
Mary Harron
Producer
Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel, Christine Vachon
Screenwriter
Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner
Production Co
Killer Films, IFC Productions
Rating
R (Sexual Content|Nudity|Some Language)
Genre
Biography, Drama
Original Language
English
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Apr 14, 2006
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 15, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.4M
Runtime
1h 30m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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