The life of Bettie Page, a 1950s pin-up model and one of the first sex icons in America, who became the target of a Senate investigation because of her risqué bondage photos.
Portrait of an American innocent. In 1955, Bettie Page (1923-2008) waits to testify before a U.S. Senate sub-committee investigating the effects of pornographic material on American adolescents and juveniles. In flashbacks, we see her childhood in Tennessee, a brief marriage, a gang rape, and her going to New York City in 1949. There she takes acting lessons, models for photos, and acts in short films for adults, earning the nickname "The Pin-Up Queen of the Universe". We see her relationship with merchants Irving and Paula Klaw, photographers John Willie and Bunny Yeager, boyfriends, and the public. Through it all, she is wholesome, sporting and forthright - Eve before the fall.—<[email protected]>
By the mid-1950s, Bettie Page had become the number one pin-up girl in the United States. Despite being abused by her father as a child and gang-raped as a teenager, Bettie had few hang-ups and was actually quite innocent. She worked hard and saw little to be ashamed of in her chosen line of work, whether posing in a bathing suit, semi-nude or in her infamous bondage pictures. It was the latter that created all the fuss in the mid-1950s when a U.S. Senate sub-committee launched an investigation into pornography. Still believing that she had done nothing wrong, Bettie eventually departed from the industry and found solace in her religious convictions.—garykmcd
Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) is an ambitious, naïve, and devout young Christian woman who longs to leave Nashville, Tennessee, following a childhood of sexual abuse, a failed wartime marriage, and a gang rape. In 1949, she departs for New York City, where she enrolls in an acting class. Amateur photographer Jerry Tibbs (Kevin Carroll) discovers her walking on the beach at Coney Island and she agrees to model for him. He suggests she restyle her hair with the bangs that would become her trademark.
Bettie becomes a favorite of nature photographers (including Bunny Yeager, who films her posing with two leopards), and she has no hesitation about removing her clothes for the photographers when asked. Before long, images of the shapely brunette reach brother-and-sister entrepreneurs Irving Klaw (Chris Bauer) and Paula Klaw (Lili Taylor), who manage a respectable business selling movie sills and memorabilia, but also deal with fetish photos, magazines, and 8- and 16-millimeter films for additional income. Their top model Maxie Lee (Cara Seymour) takes Bettie under her wing, and she soon finds herself wearing leather corsets and thigh-high boots while wielding whips and chains for photographer John Willie (Jared Harris), often at the request of Little John (Jefferson Mays), a mild-mannered attorney with unusual tastes. Bette in innocently unaware of the sexual nature of the images that and rapidly making her a star in the underground world of bondage aficionados.
In 1955, Bettie is called to testify before a hearing, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver (David Straithairn), investigating the effects of photography on American youth. Though she waits patiently for 12 hours to answer the committee's question, Kefauver (for unknown reasons) decides not to bring her before the committee and dismisses her without an explanation. When it becomes apparent that casting directors are more interested in her notoriety than in any acting talent she might possess, Bettie heads to Miami Beach. Drifting along with limited career prospects and a virtually nonexistent social life, she stumbles upon a small evangelical church, walks inside and rushes forward to embrace Jesus Christ during the altar call. Although she insists she is not ashamed of anything she has done in her life, she appears happy to leave her past behind and return to her spiritual roots by preaching the word of the Lord on street corners.
Back in New York City, Irving is stressed out and suffering from poor health. He decided that he and his sister must burn their vast collection of erotic photos, and movie footage to avoid potential prosecution. Paula reluctantly complies with her brother's request, but secretly saves the negatives of many of Bettie's pictures and movies from the bonfire, therefore ensuring that Bettie's work will survive for future generations.
