I really enjoyed this movie. Gretchen Mol was absolutely luminous and this might be the best role I've ever seen her in.Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) is a good Southern girl trying to make it as a model in New York City in the 1950's. Her work takes her in an unexpected direction when she meets Irving (Chris Bauer) and Paula Klaw (Lili Taylor), a brother and sister photography and distribution team, who ask her to pose for "specialty" pictures. Thus, the Pin-up Queen of the Universe was born. Bettie went on to be one of, if not the most famous fetish models of all time, despite the Klaw's being called to stand in front of a Congressional hearing to defend themselves against charges of sending "indecent" material through the U.S. Mail.
The 50's were a horrible time when having a spanking fetish was lumped in with ritual murder as far as mental health diagnoses went. Any expression of sexuality that was not the accepted standard was criminalized, leaving a lot of good people punished for being different. Movies about the 50's, however, are just fine and dandy. Especially this one. I also enjoyed seeing the many cameos from people like David Strathairn, Jared Harris, Norman Reedus, and Sarah Paulson. If you can located this one, give it a whirl.
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