Bettie Page Reveals All

Bettie Page Reveals All is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Mark Mori about the life history and cultural influence of Bettie Page. It was written by Doug Miller.

Much of its narration is from audiotape interviews with Page. Individuals offering commentary on Page and her significance include Dita Von Teese, Hugh Hefner, Rebecca Romijn, Tempest Storm, Bunny Yeager, Paula Klaw, Jessicka, Mamie Van Doren and Naomi Campbell.

Premise

Pin-up model and cult icon Bettie Page recounts the true story of her life. Augmenting Page’s words with photos, archive movie footage and interviews, the film describes how her free expression was a factor in the cultural changes which led to America’s sexual revolution.

Principal cast

Bettie Page

Dita Von Teese

Hugh Hefner

Tricia Helfer

Mamie Van Doren

Rebecca Romijn

Stacy Burke

Christina Aguilera

Naomi Campbell

Beyonce

Rihanna

Madonna

Lady Gaga

Katy Perry

Devin DeVasquez

Reception

As of 2014, the film holds a 75 percent “fresh” rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with 21 positive reviews and 7 negative and an average rating of 6.8/10.

Variety wrote: “Veteran docu producer Mori’s evidently crowd-funded film could be more stylishly packaged, as it has a somewhat routine midlevel-cable-production feel. But the content is engaging, and the use of old movie clips to illustrate biographical details (excerpting exploitation cheapie Married Too Young when Page discusses a disastrous first marriage) is amusing.”

The New York Times wrote: “Directed by Mark Mori, written by Douglas Miller and – best of all – narrated by Page in her low, gruff Southern drawl, Bettie Page Reveals All covers much of the material that’s been related elsewhere, but with some nice differences. … Mr. Mori actually seems to have liked Page, for whom he displays genuine, believable affection, and he shares the bad along with the good without giggles, judgment or rank sensationalism. Her voice-over … suggests that Page liked him in turn. The results are absorbing if sometimes unhappy, both in the tale and its telling. No life is seamless, and not every biographical portrait needs to be, but this one is so riddled with awkward transitions, including on the soundtrack, that it tends to lurch distractingly, as if Mr. Mori were still trying to figure out how to piece the whole thing together.”

Time Out wrote: “Two Bettie Pages emerge from Mark Mori’s sensationalized profile: First and immortally, there’s the squirmy ’50s pinup, a libertine who brought a mile-wide wink to scenes of bondage. … Then we hear the older Page, recorded on tape before her 2008 death, casting back on her days in the limelight and beyond … Both ladies deserve better. It requires a facile grasp of sociocultural history to suggest that Page’s niche eroticism kicked off the sexual revolution – even if it’s Hugh Hefner saying it. Her hasty departure from the industry (coupled with an FBI investigation and a conversion to evangelical Christianity) deserves franker scrutiny, from thinkers deeper than Shalom Harlow. And Mori’s interview with the older Page (a coup) is frustrating, not just for revealing less than “all,” but for his inability to push a paradoxically modest person beyond skin-deep significance.”

RogerEbert.com wrote: “[Page’s] voiceover track is the reason to see the film, which is mainly conventional in structure and sometimes sloppy in execution. But any time the film abandons the tired talking-head formula, with experts like Hugh Hefner and Dita Von Teese needlessly telling us why Page is influential, and goes back to Page talking, it finds its footing.”

Accolades

Bettie Page Reveals All won the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary at the 2013 Garden State Film Festival.

References

External links

Bettie Page Reveals All at IMDb

In ‘Reveals All,’ Bettie Page emerges from seclusion to unveil secret past” by Robin Leach in Las Vegas Sun (5 April 2012)

Bettie Page Reveals All: Film Review by John DeFore in The Hollywood Reporter (20 November 2012)