... I'm fairly nocturnal as it is so it wasn't an effort to stay up for it, but having heard excellent things about Lolita it is likely that I would have stayed up to watch it anyway. Although the subject matter sounded a bit perverse, the fact that the film is over forty years old and is still ... Read review
Stanley Kubrick's 1961 version ofLolita, Vladimir Nabokov's notorious 1953 novel, prompted ... more
a scandal in its day: even to address the issue of paedophilia on screen was deemed to be as perverted as the hapless protagonist Humbert Humbert. James Mason pl...
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Stanley Kubrick's 1961 version ofLolita, Vladimir Nabokov's notorious 1953 novel, prompted ... more
a scandal in its day: even to address the issue of paedophilia on screen was deemed to be as perverted as the hapless protagonist Humbert Humbert. James Mason pl...
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Humbert is smitten. He plans to marry Charlotte Haze. That way he’ll always be close ... more
to his dear one - Charlotte’s precocious daughter! Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick explores the theme of sexual obsession (a subject he would revisit 37 years l...
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Newly arrived in Ramsdale, New Hampshire, European emigre Humbert Humbert is smitten, so ... more
much so that he comes up with a master plan. He'll marry Charlotte Haze. That way he'll always be close to his dear one - Charlotte's precocious daughter! Filmmake...
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Michael Winterbottom - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
Advantages: Excellently acted and written, great storyline, great ending Disadvantages: None
...having heard excellent things about Lolita it is likely that I would have stayed up to watch it anyway. Although the subject matter sounded a bit perverse, the fact that the film is over forty years old and is still hailed as being brilliant made me more than a little interested to watch it. So I settled down with a couple of friends at 1am to watch a classic film about paedophilia.
No, really. 'Lolita' is the 1962 film adaptation of ... ...Sue Lyon playing Humbert and Lolita respectively remaining believable and true to character throughout. Sue Lyons was a pretty teenager, but not overwhelmingly gorgeous, which makes Humbert's infatuation seem more innocent and childlike than if she'd been an overly beautiful girl. Lyons plays the part of Lolita superbly, and is utterly convincing as a tease with a mix of maturity and immaturity that makes her a fascinating character.
I've tried very hard not to include spoilers in my review, but if you feel that I'm giving too much away, please let me know and I shall edit my review accordingly.
My Sunday film review is a few days late this week, as my film of choice happened to be on until 3.30am yesterday morning so I haven't really had any chance to review it since then. I'm fairly nocturnal as it is so it wasn't an effort to stay up for it, but having heard excellent things about Lolita it is likely that I would have stayed up to watch it anyway. Although the subject matter sounded a bit perverse, the fact that the film is over forty years old and is still hailed as being brilliant made me more than a little interested to watch it. So I settled down with a couple of friends at 1am to watch a classic film about paedophilia.
No, really. 'Lolita' is the 1962 film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's notorious novel from 1953, which is the story of a 40-year old man who falls in love with a young teenage girl. The excellently named Humbert Humbert is a 39-year old professor who accepts a job at a college in America, but decides to go and spend a summer writing a book on French literature elsewhere in the country before starting his teaching job. When his original plans for accommodation fall through, he ends up staying with single mother Charlotte Haze and her daughter Dolores, or Lolita, who he becomes instantly infatuated with. Despite the fact that she is only 14 years old, Humbert becomes increasingly obsessed with her, describing her as a 'nymphet': that is, a young girl in the early stages of puberty that is sexually attractive. He ends up travelling around the country with Lolita, under the guise of them being a father and daughter rather than allowing the seedier truth to be revealed.
The acting in this film is superb, with the stars James Mason and Sue Lyon playing Humbert and Lolita respectively remaining believable and true to character throughout. Sue Lyons was a pretty teenager, but not overwhelmingly gorgeous, which makes Humbert's infatuation seem more innocent and childlike than if she'd been an overly beautiful girl. Lyons plays the part of Lolita superbly, and is utterly convincing as a tease with a mix of maturity and immaturity that makes her a fascinating character.
Ok, so many of you may feel disgusted by the content of this film, and before I saw it I didn't think that Lolita would be a beautiful and captivating film, but it was. It's clear from the offset that Humbert is a fairly disturbed man, with the death of his first love at the young age of 14 undoubtedly being the cause of his infatuation with Lolita later in life. The trauma of losing his first lover at such a young age arguably made him stay at the sexual state of a 14-year old boy, making his attraction to teenage girls almost inevitable. Lolita, on the other hand, appears old beyond her years, and knows that she can use her body to get whatever she wants. Despite this film being about a sexual relationship between an older man and a young teenager, there is no real oppressor and victim dynamic present here. Lolita is very aware of what is going on, and in many ways is more in control than Humbert is.
I would recommend trying not to view this film as a film about a bad man who is a paedophile, and more a film about a disturbed man with a sad past who gives into temptation when it pounces on him. I really enjoyed this film and all its sadness and excellence, and despite the fact that it is over forty years old it doesn't feel outdated or difficult to relate to. The ending of the film, although surprising and bizarrely comical, left me feeling satisfied with the film, and I would definitely watch it again and recommend it. If you go in with the mindset that the protagonist is an evil man, then you're not going to enjoy the film. If you have an open mind, however, you may just find a film that surprises and delights you, and which will soon become one of your favourites. For only £5 for a copy of the DVD on Amazon, it's a pretty good bargain, and may be a good Christmas present for a fan of older films. I know I'd be happy to get it anyway!
...an unavoidable accident, Humbert retrieves Lolita and the pair settle down posing as father and daughter. The strange Clare Quilty looms like a spectre over the proceedings but what is his connection to Lolita and her mother? When Lolita disappears it seems that Quilty may be the key.
Nabokov's novel caused outrage when released and the subject matter is still just as simultaneously fascinating as it is repellant. The screenplay is actually by the ... ...aged Humbert with teenage temptress Lolita is the core of the story and that's what ultimately makes or breaks this film. It's a contentious issue and one that typifies the director's work but how does old Stan the man get along here? The story moves along slowly but somehow you end up reaching 30 minutes and suddenly realising that the time is flying. The scenes themselves are slow and draggy upon reflection but somehow they're enjoyable at the ...
TheNeil 18.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lolita (DVD)
Advantages: Intriguing treatment of a famous novel. Superb performances Disadvantages: Apparently not very close to Nabokov's story.
Vladimir Nabokov's famous novel translated to the screen by himself and given the Kubrick treatment. I find this film has subtle power and an unsettling feel, probably like no other film of the sixties. This isn't just the subject matter - a middle aged teachers fascination/lust for a nymphet, but the overall odd feel to the film, typical of Kubrick. Mason gives a nicely judged perfromance in the role of the teacher Humbert Humbert, and Shelley Winters ...
JSpencer 20.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lolita (DVD)
Advantages: I cant begin to explain how amazing this film is. Disadvantages: None
...of going through life with Lolita around him. As always the film has Kubricks picturesque beauty which can make any man or women weep in joy. The film is a bit of a romantic comedy but there are a lot of serious issues on morality, ethics, justice, and solipsism. Another thing I love about Kubrick's films is that you can watch them after so many many years and find something new and riveting to sink your teeth into. Its a film that has and will stand ...
semiflex 29.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lolita (DVD)
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Advantages: Brilliantly performed controversial Film!! Disadvantages: Nothing at all, I loved it!
This is an Excellent film and is greatly adapted to DVD. It's based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, and basically it's a tragic comedy of obsession - "Lolita", the hilarious,whilst disturbing, but suspenseful and profoundly moving story of a forbidden love affair and its extremely shattering consequences.
Humbert (Jeremy Irons) is a remarkable man with a poisonous wound: the painful memory of a fated childhood love and a haunting urge to rediscover its lost passion.
When he encounters Charlotte Haze (Melanie Griffith), a widow with romantic plans, its her nymph daughter, Lolita (Dominique Swain), who ultimately wins Humbert's affection, testing him and satisfying his secret desires with disastrous results.
This is a vry moving film and it honestly does make you stop and think about things in a different perspective! I first ...
pixiejovo 15.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Lolita (DVD)
Advantages: Better than the original (WHAT I hear you cry) Disadvantages: A little ill paced
In 1962 Stanley Kubrick bought the movie Lolita to the screen, now I'm sure i'm going to offend the world when I say that the 1997 movie, widely praised and widely condemned is a far better movie; why have I gone to this extreme? Read on....
Humbert Humbert (Jeremy Irons) takes some time out of work moving to a small town in order to work on a text book, but when he arrives at his lodgings he finds they have burned to the ground. Luckily Humbert finds himself in the household of Charlotte Haze (Melanie Griffith) and her teenage daughter Lolita (Dominique Swain) proper name Delores. Humbert is strangely drawn to Lolita, her girlish ways, devastating beauty, and heady sexuality; but as Lolita is just 13 years old Humbert must restrain himself. As he finds himself closer into the family circle Humbert engages in a romance with Charlotte ...
sghawken 30.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lolita (DVD)
Advantages: riveting story; Swain and Irons; musical score Disadvantages: may be disturbing
Some of you may find it astonishing that the infamous 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, is still so highly regarded and popular by all ages, it being a story told by a middle-aged man of his obsession with a fourteen-year-old girl. Revolting book! Despicable man! You are, however, reading this review of the 1997 cinematic release of Adrian Lyne?s Lolita. Forbidden love...or lust...has always charmed us like a haunting flute charming a serpent, whether we wish to admit it. Director Lyne understands this all too well in his 137-minute movie and the titular, seductive results are rather disturbing.
I have yet to read the novel (just checked it out of the library) or to watch the 1962 cinematic release of Stanley Kubrick?s Lolita (I?m not too eager to do so), but I am glad I watched this latest release by Lyne. It is absolutely ...
jankperegrine 08.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Lolita (DVD)
Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial LOLITA is a wicked satire of sexual obsession, sadomasochism, and fetishism. When mild-mannered professor Humbert Humbert (James Mason) arrives in the small town of Ramsdale, New Hampshire, he is immediately set upon by his landlady, Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters), and her adolescent daughter, Lolita (Sue Lyon). Although Humbert gets involved with Charlotte, it is Lolita with whom he becomes obsessed. When Charlotte sends her daughter away to summer camp (the aptly named Camp Climax), Humbert becomes consumed with jealousy. When he finally takes Lolita out of camp and heads out alone with her, he is pestered along the way by Clare Quilty (played magnificently by Peter Sellers), who threatens to expose him. But nothing can break the hold Lolita has over Humbert. From the opening credits sequence--a close-up of a man's hand (with a wedding ring) carefully polishing a young girl's toenails--Kubrick's LOLITA burns with sexual energy that is biting, ironic, and darkly comic as it follows the debasement of an intelligent, worldly man in a series of carefully choreographed long takes that boils over with psychosexual tension. Although little physical contact is shown, Kubrick hints at it beautifully, especially in the drive-in scene in which both Charlotte and Lolita grab on to Humbert's hands. And yet given the serious nature of the subject matter, Kubrick pauses long enough to include a riotous slapstick scene of Humbert and a bellhop struggling over a cot as Lolita sleeps quietly on the bed, as well as Quilty playing Ping-Pong with a seemingly endless supply of balls. Stanley Kubrick's highly controversial masterwork is a fascinating look at pedophilia and sexual taboos that lead to obsession and murder.
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