Bettie Page Reveals All

If I could change one social norm in American society it would likely be that we stop viewing sex as a topic that needs to remain unexplored and unspoken. America, over recent years, has gotten much better at acknowledging that sex exists, sometimes in raunchy and sometimes grotesque forms, but I still see a disturbing rush of uncomfortable feelings loom over a person when one person (cough, cough myself) brings up the topic for discussion. I talk about quite a bit with my friends at school, or just in public, and I've gotten in serious trouble for being open about sexual topics; I've never been reprimanded for mentioning something with grotesque violence, such as school shootings, torture, or even openly talking The Passion of the Christ.

Nearly everybody watches pornography, thinks about sex on a regular basis, consciously or subconsciously considers sleeping with another person, engages in masturbation, has elaborate sexual fantasies, possesses fetishes/sexual preferences, and enjoys feeling intimate pleasure. If you said "not me" to any of those, I fear for the future of our current or potentially-brewing relationship. Expressing and embracing sexual pleasure is one of the most fulfilling and satisfying things a human can experience, so why have we repressed these perfectly natural, often desired feelings and instead think of gratuitous and unnatural violence as more of a socially acceptable topic? A person who challenged America's prudish views on sexuality was not a die-hard feminist, a liberal/conservative activist, somebody with an agenda, a corporate/organizational mouthpiece, or a group of high school/college kids who shouted "we're not gonna take it anymore" from the rooftops of their schools. It was an intelligent, charismatic pin-up girl from the 1950's by the name of Bettie Page, who, arguably, didn't even think of defying norms when she was posing for several photographers and magazines in her prime. She just wanted to show off her inherently beautiful figure, infectious smile, and unbelievably arousing poses.

Mark Mori's Bettie Page Reveals All attempts to piece together the life of the pin-up model, who went from the humblest of beginnings, several relationship ups and downs, an explosion of popularity, the owner of the title "America's raciest sweetheart," to complete obscurity, to an unpredictable resurgence, to her death in 2008. Mori and his filmmakers were fortunate enough to obtain a large amount of audio of Page speaking one-on-one to the filmmakers about her life and her career before her death, which makes the film worth seeing for one reason. This is likely the last piece of information we'll ever get from Page that was not just authorized by her but involved her in person.

With that being said, it's only a shame that the film isn't a bit stronger. The film presents itself in the most basic documentary quality, mirroring a project created with the utilities of Windows Movie Maker and a video-to-MP3 downloading service, as about seventy percent of the film is compiled of a slideshow presentation with the remaining thirty percent catering to talking heads, some who knew Page and some who are just big advocators and supporters of her work.

Immediately, that creates an imbalance in the film's narrative. At times, it wants just Page to tell her story, but its inclusion of outsider opinion shows that it wants a crowd-sourced view on her as a person, a pin-up girl, and an icon of sexual liberation. Mori attempts to mold both together, but, in doing so, he shortchanges some of Page's crucial elements to her story (mainly her proclaimed sexual abuse that she endured by her father, which was experienced by her sisters in an even more grotesque manner). It's almost shocking how casually it is introduced and dismissed.

Nonetheless, this documentary is inherently interesting and works as a great classroom companion for sociology/gender studies courses in the high school and college courses "brave" enough to show it. Sixty years ago (not that long ago when one thinks about it), Betty Page lifting her legs in the air with fishnets covering them, lacey pantyhose draping her buttocks, a bare-midriff visible, and a seductive, lipstick-soaked smile was considered "lewd" and "provocative." Now, Katy Perry can sit on her stomach, completely naked on a cloud in the music video for her smash hit "California Gurls," with the camera angles and background intrusions just barely covering up her no-no areas. My how far we've come.

Furthermore, one model goes on to admit how girls should look up to Page as a contradiction to what "society" and "imaging" tells us now about how women should look, which I'd like to affirm if I may. Page appeared full and complete in the areas males so often desired, and her incredibly vibrant smile and radiant poses and facial expressions only further expressed her beauty and illuminating figure. Page had everything in moderation and exhibits a grand form of beauty girls would be better off admiring than the paper-thin models in the industry today. If it sounds like I have a crush on the young Betty Page, it's because I do.

Bettie Page Reveals All is a title with two different meanings, both of which one could probably infer. One is the more obvious one (depending on the type of person you are), which denotes that Page herself will tell her story and reveal all the burning questions and details you want to know. The other one may need a few moments to develop upon hearing the title (again, heavily depending on the type of person you are), denoting the idea that Page bears all her female figure in the open for us to take as we will. Both accurately define a woman who had nothing to hide, physically and intellectually and forever changed an American social norm. At least she gets a moderately enjoyable film, which is more that can be said about some other heroes.

A documentary that held me to the end. This is such an interesting story about the life of a woman I can say I truly love and so many would agree with me. Not only does it show the part of her life we all want to see in detail, but it shows us her insights as we watch because...She is a voice over for a lot of this flick! That alone is worth the ticket. Add to that the fact that her insights are so interesting. She was such a thinker.

As someone who had previously watched The Notorious Bettie Page-the dramatized account of the pin-up queen-and Bettie Page: The Girl in the Leopard Print Bikini-another documentary about her, seeing a DVD of Bettie Page Reveals All! displayed on the shelf at Barnes & Noble-with the revelation that Ms. Page herself was narrating from recordings of interviews she did before her death in 2008 as well as the promise of so many of her pictures and short movies she made being shown-made me want to buy it right away and view it at home which I just did. Quite an eye-opener watching all those images of Ms. Page in all her sexy glory and then hearing her elderly voice with such a fascinating account of what she went through much of her life made this quite an experience to savor. So on that note, I highly recommend Bettie Page Reveals All!

Bette Page Reveals All (2012)

*** (out of 4)

Very detailed look at the life and career of the iconic pin-up Bettie Page. The documentary uses an audio interview with Page to tell her story, which starts from her childhood days and goes all through her career and her eventually downfall due to a mental disorder. It's hard to believe that in this day and age there's someone out there who hasn't seen Bettie Page. After all, she broke down all sorts of walls when it comes to women's sexuality and it's easy to forget that she was the "it" thing long before Playboy.

This documentary does an extremely good job at telling her story and making sure the viewer knows just about everything there is to know about the legend. Some of the most fascinating stories come from her early, pre-fame days where she struggled a lot of sexual abuse from not only her father but by a group of men in New York. We also hear about her first marriage, which turned out to haunt her later in life more than her nude work. Of course, the thing Page is known for the most was her sexuality and there's no question that the film leaves nothing to the imagination. It might be an over-statement but I'm pretty sure just about every nude picture Page has done is on display here so those who enjoy her work will certainly have a lot to look at.

There are several talking heads giving their thoughts on the icon (including Hugh Hefner) but the highlight is certainly hearing from Page herself. Getting a first-hand account of everything that was going on is certainly the best thing about this documentary.

...just as its subject was and always will be, "Bettie Page Reveals All!" presents a lovingly illustrated biography of the quintessential American pin-up, Bettie Mae Page, the Queen of Curves. Its strengths lie in being structured around the last audio interviews with Bettie; its weaknesses lie in the paucity of new information, at least for the hardcore Bettie fan, who will have already devoured the several biographies available. The only thing new I learned was that Bettie didn't much care for Mary Harron's "The Notorious Bettie Page." Still, it's as complete a videography as the general audience might expect, well worth the time spent with it. Long live Bettie Page!