the notorious bettie page write by mary harron and guinevere turner direct by mary harronhow do you define a person who have always be between two world and one of presumed sin and one of suppose redemption . especially when that person eventually succumb to a split personality disorder in her latter year a if to demonstrate her own point . if youre director mary harron and you do not shy away from show the push or pull nature of the notorious bettie page . you allow the character to drift back and forth between the heal forgiveness of the power of god and the church and the seductive illusion of control and dominance afford to page during her year a a pinup model . by do so and audience be offer a complex character that be propel forward by a desire to leave her difficult past with a naive enjoyment in others lust for her and a struggle to reconcile her image in the eye of god . come the right time and it will no longer matter how many eye be on her because there be only one pair that count . shot mostly in black and white ( with some unnecessary burst of color ) and the notorious bettie page be at time a light and humorous comedy and make the film an enjoyable experience and also one that poke fun at how seriously people believe in the corruption of pornography . but the delicate hand of the director be more palpably felt during page time of despair . harron be a sensitive and considerate director who do not throw page numerous and devastating blow of abuse in the face of her viewer . instead and she allow the surprisingly effective gretchen moll and who play the title role and the chance to hammer the pain of her character into the viewer with fear in her eye and exhaustion be her cry and shame on her skin . whereas most director and perhaps most male director and would find it essential to show the heroine in painful position in order to draw a link between the kind of atrocity that be put upon her and where her life take her and harron have too much compassion for her character and her actress and her audience . from fragility and page learns to trust people again and a more and more photographer fall in love with her image and the more she fall in love with their admiration and the control she have over the gaze . by the time her pose cross over into the realm of soft core s and m and she have find a way to combine her need to be respect with the objectification she have be accustom to her whole life . mary harron bettie page be a woman who yearn for control over her life and destiny and yet ultimately be always be tell where to stand and how to smile and what to wear . when she finally realize that none of her choice have be her own and she choose to embrace god and preach his word to those who will listen . the true sadness behind this most important decision be that she be still let someone else guide her blindly while she just have more faith that this direction will be good for her soul .