Ms Kathleen's Review

Screen 5 of 7

It is her innocence that makes Bettie Page such a fascinating character. The film examines her religious faith and how she reconciles that with her naughty profession. One gets the feeling watching this film that Bettie never viewed sex as being ‘dirty’ and she never viewed posing with whips while wearing leather boots and corsets束腰 — a stiff garment that squeezes the waist as being ‘perverted’. She only began to feel guilty when other people judged her. Other people considered sex to be ‘dirty’, the naked female form to be ‘immoral’ and domination and submission to be ‘decadent’. Bettie had the faith of a child and she was able to see the world with innocence.

All of that innocence disappeared when the government put the clamps on Irving Klaw and summoned Bettie to testify before the United States Senate during the juvenile delinquency hearings. Bettie begins to feel guilty and she seeks and finds redemption by embracing her roots, returning to church and giving her life over to Christ.