Lolita: Disturbingly Seductive Film!
 Mar 8th, 2005
Advantages:
riveting story; Swain and Irons; musical score
Disadvantages:
may be disturbing
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
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  jankperegrine
About me:
Hi! I'm also a reviewer for epinions.com as 'jankp.' Hope your weather is as great as mine in Nebra...
Member since:28.06.2004
Reviews:50
Members who trust:11
Review rated by 44 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
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 amazing. I didn’t think I would feel sympathy for the man, but I certainly did when he was faced with the mesmerizing strains of this flute, composed ingenuously
by fifteen-year-old Dominique Swain, still wearing braces and chewing gum. You too won’t be able to help it, just like member PKWBassGuy humorously explains in his review. I know this is making you squirm in your seats, but perhaps out of some curiosity? If so, read on and I will try to explain the magic of this movie.
From reviews I’ve read, screenwriter Stephen Schiff seems to have stayed most faithful to the romantic vision of Nabokov. The film begins with the man, played flawlessly by Jeremy Irons, as he remembers his childhood love who then becomes ill and dies. In a voiceover he reveals that he has never gotten over his loss and still falls in love with ’nymphettes’ or girls like her. The story continues in the present, the 40s or 50s, when as a teacher he seeks a room to rent in a widowed woman’s house. Melanie Griffiths plays the pretty widow and mother of Delores, nicknamed Lo and subsequently Lolita by the man. As the young widow Griffiths is nicely appealing, but while she becomes attracted to the man, he is captivated by her innocent, beautiful daughter so lovingly embraced by the camera. Lo at first smiles openly with no seductiveness, but as she becomes aware of his fascination with her that he tries so much to hide from her and her mother, she begins to flirt with a joyful abandon. She’s rebellious at that age and loves how he is more attracted to her than her bossy mother that she adores irritating.
The man narrates once in a while, letting us know how deeply he has been affected by the child-woman and that he hopes we won’t think of him as a bad man. He marries the mother all of a sudden to keep Lo in his life and drugs the poor woman every night so he doesn’t have to make love to her. Maybe he hoped that being Lo’s stepfather would instill more of a fatherly attitude towards her or a daughterly attitude on her part. Those hopes stood no chance. Oh how he struggles to not give in! She initiates kissing, then oral sex and more later in very tastefully-shot, electrifying scenes. Quite disturbing! Lolita is far from over. The relationship between the man and girl remains torturous for him for he really loves her as a soulmate and moreso for the toying girl as circumstances change. Her mother has a fatal accident through her own fault and the two take to the road in what could be deemed a way to find their way in life. Guilt, shame and fear accompany him like a shadow and he suspects...somebody's following them. Watch and find out what happens!
I don’t recommend Lolita lightly. It may not appeal to parents of teenaged daughters, especially mothers with a second husband, and finding such a man so sympathetic will surely disturb many of you. If the performances of Irons and Swain, backed by his moving narration, witty dialogue and a gorgeous score, weren’t so solid and bewitching, you wouldn’t feel so unnerved. I also must credit Schiff and Lyne for showing us so well what happens when a forbidden, secret obsession controls our life and how it must eventually end. I cried for the man. I also cried for Lolita. I think you’ll cry too when their dreams become known to each other. Now I’m ready to read Nabokov’s novel. I wasn’t before, but now I am, thanks to this brilliant movie.
NOTE--I cannot upload a pic of the 1998 UK-released DVD cover, unfortunately. I watched the American release that has no special features unlike the UK release, the latter being a much better buy!
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![Lolita [DVD] [1998]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78543380.jpg)
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Lolita [DVD] [1998]
Release Date: 2000-05-08, Rating Suitable for 18 years and over,
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£ 14.98
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![Lethal Lolita [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78501414.jpg)
by (2%):
08.06.2005 21:34
confused again, no review, is thee something wrong with my pc or have you just removed them? Jayne x x
01.06.2005 01:18
It's a little bit harder to have sympathy for him when you read the novel. In the film version, it doesn't talk of his searching for underage prostitutes in Paris. But, still one of my favourite books. Nice review.
15.03.2005 08:28
Great review, I've never heard of this, I'm not sure if it is something I would watch x