Lolita

I never read Nabokov's novel nor did I watch Kubrick's Lolita, but I liked this one - yes, my feelings sometimes were ambivalent regarding some scenes, but well, I guess that was Nabokov's aim and that of the director. Production is excellent, acting too. A good one that questions in its best moments our perception of reality and our moral values.

I implore you to read the book before watching the movie, and then you'll understand that it isn't glorifying anything. Yes the movie's aesthetic is beautiful. There are nice shots of the US and Lolita's style is pretty. But the story is nothing short of sick. Humbert is not meant to be the hero. He is an insanely sick and twisted. The author mocks him many times in the book. The story is told from his perspective which is interesting, but he is not a trustworthy narrator. He justifies his actions when in reality we see how they start to pile up on him and not work out in his favour. He is selfishly trying to pursue a fantasy, and putting adult expectations on a literal child. Lolita is manipulative, but she never stood a chance. She was failed by the adults around her. And she was dealing with a lot. Her father is nowhere to be found and we see how Humbert inserts himself into that role to abuse her. The aftermath of the characters, revealed right before the credits, is tragic. The actors delivered amazingly. And the poetic writing from the book is used throughout. This is a messed up story told from the perspective of a pathetic individual, but has elements of dark humour. We can see we are not supposed to root for Humbert. I think it was a great adaptation of the book.

When the 1997 version of Lolita was widely censored in the US, many asked why the reaction was so strong to this film. After all, the novel was published in the US in 1958, Kubrick's film version appeared in 1962, and we hear more shocking tales of sexual depravity every day on the daytime talk shows. But after seeing Lyne's brilliant version of Lolita, I can see how he manages to breathe fresh controversy into this familiar story. Lyne's lascivious lens eroticizes Lolita's every movement and pose. The viewer is forced to see her through the eyes of Humbert and to feel his obsession and desire. We are co-conspirators in his crime, and at the end we share his shame. Rather than shocking us (and having us pull away in revulsion), Lyne draws us in and makes us face the Humbert in ourselves. This is an incredibly powerful film.

Lyne's point of departure from the Kubrick version of Nabokov's great novel lies primarily in tone: the later version focuses more on the tragic, dramatic elements of the book and less on the comedic ones. I will not go so far as to suggest that Lyne made a better film; he did not. I do think, however, that he did pinpoint one of the key components of the novel's genius: a capturing of life on the newly paved highways of mid-century America. As Humbert, Jeremy Irons is as good as his predecessor James Mason. Frank Langella's interpretation of Quilty entirely diverges from the one given by Peter Sellers (and rightfully so; who wants to compete with Sellers?). But it is Dominique Swain, outdoing Sue Lyon, who comes closer than what ever seemed possible to embodying the essence of the doomed Dolly Haze.

Having read the book and watched the 1962 version some years back, now watching the 1997 version completes my own Lolita experience. This one also pretty well follows the novel but of course some things just are inappropriate to include. Lolita is a brat, sassy, pretty, flirty, manipulative, but Humbert is obsessed. Near the end, before his final encounter with Quilty he goes on about loving Lolita, but what he had was not love, it was carnal obsession. It wrecked him I suppose in the same way that many men have been wrecked over the history of the world.

I found it on Amazon streaming movies.