The Notorious Bettie Page

Slight but well-made, Mary Harron’s film about the Fifties pin-up queen is surprisingly charming. The same can be said for Gretchen Mol in the title role, really delightful in both appearance and personality. The B&W evocation of the era is slightly reminiscent of Good Night and Good Luck, though here David Strathairn plays Estes Kefauver instead of Edward R. Murrow. Along with Lili Taylor, he typifies the top to bottom quality of this production. Rather than heavy breathing over pornography or censorship, this film comes across as good-natured and winsome as its subject, a Southern girl of religious bent who was preternaturally comfortable undressing and dressing up for the camera, even in bondage regalia, innocent and yet kinky. Bettie/Gretchen is as sunny in aspect as the colorful Florida interludes that punctuate the film in faux-Technicolor, more sweet and funny than powerful or penetrating, but still a thoughtful effort all round. (2006, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-64.)