Â鶹Éç

Sex and violence continue to preoccupy writer/director Mary Harron who's perhaps best known for American Psycho (2000). This time the sex is a little kinkier and the beatings a little lighter with Gretchen Mol taking centre stage as The Notorious Bettie Page. It's based on the life of an unassuming photo model and accidental icon of eroticism for the buttoned-down 50s. But despite a fearless performance from Mol, Harron's script never really gets under her skin.

It's an episodic, sometimes sluggish portrait that sees Bettie flit between relationships and nudie modelling sessions with total passivity. She's the picture of naivete; even while sporting suspenders and wielding a whip - almost like the Forrest Gump of the porno world. It's an intriguing contrast of character and circumstance, but Harron rarely delves deeper. The impact of Bettie's religious upbringing is dealt with clumsily during a conversation with her photographer (Jared Harris) when she expresses concern that God may punish her for her 'sins'.

"THE FORREST GUMP OF THE PORNO WORLD"

Harron is not judgemental in her approach, which allows Bettie's sweet nature to shine through. However, there's a nagging dissatisfaction that comes from being too detached from her subject. It's as if she prefers - like Bettie's legion of fans - to view her as an attractive oddity instead of a wilful human being. Switching between black-and-white and colour only enhances a sense of glossy artifice. Meanwhile Bettie's entanglement in a senate investigation into pornography only provides a frame for her story instead of upping the dramatic stakes. Ironically given all the full frontal nudity, this is a film in need of serious fleshing out.