''Lolita'' is a 1997

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director, writer and producer. Having begun his career directing 1970s television commercials, Lyne made well-received short films which were entries in the London Film Festival. He started mak ...

and written by

Stephen Schiff {{Infobox person , name = Stephen Schiff , image = , image_size = , alt = , caption = , birth_name = , birth_date = , birth_place = Detroit, Michiga ...

. It is the second

screen adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...

's 1955 novel of the same name and stars

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...

as Humbert Humbert and

Dominique Swain Dominique Swain (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress and producer. She came to prominence playing the title character in Adrian Lyne's 1997 film adaptation of ''Lolita'', alongside her supporting role as Jamie Archer in John Woo's ''Fac ...

as Dolores "Lolita" Haze, with supporting roles by

Melanie Griffith Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...

as Charlotte Haze, and

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...

as Clare Quilty. The film is about a middle-aged male professor named Humbert who rents a room in the house of the widow Charlotte Haze and becomes sexually attracted to her adolescent daughter Dolores, also called "Lo" or "Lolita". Lyne's film is more overt with many of the novel's darker elements compared to Stanley Kubrick's 1962 version, which used suggestion and innuendo for comic purposes. The film had difficulty finding an American distributor and premiered in Europe before being released in the United States. The film was eventually picked up in the United States by Showtime, a

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

network, before finally being released theatrically by

The Samuel Goldwyn Company The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1978. Background The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films fro ...

. Although praised by some critics for its faithfulness to Nabokov's narrative and for the performances of Irons and Swain, the film received a mixed critical reception in the United States. ''Lolita'' was met with much controversy in Australia, where it was not given a theatrical release until April 1999.

Plot

In 1947, Humbert Humbert (

), a middle-aged European professor of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

, travels to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

to take a teaching position in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He rents a room in the home of widow Charlotte Haze (

), largely because he is sexually attracted to her 14-year-old daughter Dolores (

), also called "Lo", who he sees while touring the house. Obsessed from boyhood with girls of approximately her age (whom he calls " nymphets"), Humbert is immediately smitten with Lo and marries Charlotte only to be near her daughter. Charlotte finds Humbert's secret diary and discovers his preference for her daughter. Furious, Charlotte runs out of the house, when she is struck by a car and killed, with Humbert eventually telling Lo about her mother's death. Charlotte's death frees Humbert to pursue a romantic and sexual relationship with Lo, whom he nicknames "

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...

". Humbert and Lo then travel the country, staying in various

motels A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...

before eventually settling in the college town of Beardsley, where Humbert takes a teaching job and Lo begins attending Beardsley Prep School, an

all-girls Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice o ...

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

. Humbert must conceal the nature of his relationship with Lolita from everyone – strangers they encounter when traveling as well as the administration at Beardsley. He presents his relationship with Lo to the world as a father and daughter. Over time, Lo's increasing boredom with Humbert, combined with her growing desire for independence and realization of their relationship, fuels a constant tension that leads to a fight between them. Humbert's affection for Lo is also rivaled by another man, playwright Clare Quilty (

), who has been pursuing Lo since the beginning of the pair's travels. Lo eventually escapes with Quilty, and Humbert's search for them is unsuccessful, especially as he doesn't know Quilty's name. Three years later, Humbert receives a letter from Lo asking for money. Humbert visits Lo, who is now married and pregnant. Her husband, Richard, knows nothing about her past. Humbert asks her to run away with him, but she refuses. He relents and gives her a substantial amount of money. Lo also reveals to Humbert how Quilty actually tracked young girls and took them to Pavor Manor, his home in Parkington, to exploit them for

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

. Quilty abandoned her after she refused to be in one of his films. After his visit with Lo, Humbert tracks down Quilty and murders him. After being chased by the police, Humbert is arrested and sent to prison. He dies in prison in November 1950 due to a

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart at ...

, and Lo dies the next month on Christmas Day from childbirth complications.

Cast

as Professor Humbert Humbert **

Ben Silverstone Benjamin Maurice Silverstone (born 9 April 1979) is an English barrister and former actor. Silverstone's appeared in the 1998 Paramount Classics feature film, '' Get Real''. Early life and education Silverstone was born in Camden, London, the s ...

as young Humbert *

as Dolores "Lolita" Haze *

as Clare Quilty *

as Charlotte Haze * Suzanne Shepherd as Miss Pratt *

Keith Reddin Keith Reddin (born July 7, 1956) is an American actor and playwright. He received his B.S. in 1978 from Northwestern University and then went on to attend Yale School of Drama until he received his M.A. in 1981. Reddin grew up in Englewood, Ne ...

as Reverend Rigger *

Erin J. Dean Erin Jane Dean (born October 18, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for her lead role as Robbie Stevenson in the television series ''The Journey of Allen Strange''. She has also appeared as the lead actress in '' Lovers Lane'', and ...

as Mona * Joan Glover as Miss LaBone * Ed Grady as Dr. Melinik * Michael Goodwin as Mr. Beale *

Angela Paton Angela Paton (January 11, 1930 – May 26, 2016)Emma Griffiths-Malin as Annabel Lee *

Ronald Pickup Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...

as young Humbert's father *

Michael Culkin Michael Culkin (born 2 July 1954) is an English theatre, film, and television actor probably best known for his role as Judge Buller in the BBC drama ''Garrow's Law''. He appeared as Rab Butler in the first two seasons of ''The Crown'', in '' ...

as Mr. Leigh *

Annabelle Apsion Jane Annabelle Apsion (born 17 September 1960 in Hammersmith, London) is an English actress best known for playing Monica Gallagher in the hit television comedy-drama '' Shameless'' (2004-2013), Joy Wilton in '' Soldier Soldier'' (1991-1995), a ...

as Mrs. Leigh

Production

The first screen adaptation of the book, 1962's ''

'', was credited solely to Nabokov, although it was heavily revised by

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

and James Harris and was directed by Kubrick. The screenplay for the 1997 version, more faithful to the text of the novel than the earlier motion picture, is credited to

Stephen Schiff {{Infobox person , name = Stephen Schiff , image = , image_size = , alt = , caption = , birth_name = , birth_date = , birth_place = Detroit, Michiga ...

, a writer for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'', and other magazines. Schiff was hired to write it as his first movie script, after the film's producers had rejected commissioned screenplays from the more experienced screenwriters and directors

James Dearden James Dearden (born 14 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter, the son of Scottish actress Melissa Stribling and English film director Basil Dearden. He directed nine films between 1977 and 2018. His film '' Pascali's Isla ...

(''

Fatal Attraction ''Fatal Attraction'' is a 1987 American psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne from a screenplay by James Dearden, based on his 1980 short film '' Diversion''. Starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer, the film cent ...

''),

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

, and

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

.According to Gale, in ''Sharp Cut'', Pinter was paid for his work but he asked to have his name removed from the credits, as permitted by his contract.: "In November 1994 Pinter wrote that 'I've just heard that they are bringing another writer into the ''Lolita'' film. It doesn't surprise me.' Pinter's contract contained a clause to the effect that the film company could bring in another writer, but that in such a case he could withdraw his name (this was also the case with

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

The Remains of the Day ''The Remains of the Day'' is a 1989 novel by the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro. The protagonist, Stevens, is a butler with a long record of service at Darlington Hall, a stately home near Oxford, ...

''—he had insisted on this clause since the experience with revisions made to his '' Handmaid's Tale'' script" (352).Hudgins observes: "During our 1994 interview, Pinter told teven H.Gale and me that he had learned his lesson after the revisions imposed on his script for ''

The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which ...

'', which he has decided not to publish. When his script for '' Remains of the Day'' was radically revised by the

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with scree ...

–

Ismail Merchant Ismail Merchant (born Ismail Noor Muhammad Abdul Rahman (25 December 1936 – 25 May 2005)) was an Indian film producer, director and screenwriter. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included Direct ...

partnership, he refused to allow his name to be listed in the credits"; Hudgins adds: "We did not see Pinter's name up in lights when Lyne's ''Lolita'' finally made its appearance in 1998. Pinter goes on in the March 13 995letter o Hudginsto state that 'I have never been given any reason at all as to why the film company brought in another writer,' again quite similar to the equally ungracious treatment that he received in the ''Remains of the Day'' situation. He concludes that though he never met Nabokov, 'indeed I knew "Lolita" very well and loved it.' " (125). Hudgins also observes that Schiff was brought in after the efforts by Dearden (October 21, 1991), Pinter (September 26, 1994), and Mamet (March 10, 1995) and that Schiff "has no previous scripts to his credit" (124). According to Schiff: Schiff added that Kubrick's film might better have been titled ''Quilty'', since the director had allowed the character of Quilty to "take over the movie". Lyne states in the DVD commentary that he prefers location shooting even though it is more difficult in some respects; and that the home of Charlotte Haze was filmed in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

Release

''Lolita'' premiered in the United States on Showtime on August 2, 1998. Due to the difficulty in securing a distributor, the film received a limited theatrical run in the US on September 25, 1998, in order to qualify for awards. Accordingly, the film took in a gross income of $19,492 in its opening weekend. ''Lolita'' grossed $1,147,784 domestically, against an estimated $62 million budget.

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "If it can't quite live up to Nabokov's words, Adrian Lyne's ''Lolita'' manages to find new emotional notes in this complicated story, thanks in large part to its solid performances."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". James Berardinelli praised the performances of the two leads, Irons and Swain, but he considered Griffith's performance weak, "stiff and unconvincing"; he considered the film better when she no longer appeared in it and concluded: "''Lolita'' is not a sex film; it's about characters, relationships, and the consequences of imprudent actions. And those who seek to brand the picture as immoral have missed the point. Both Humbert and Lolita are eventually destroyed—what could be more moral? The only real controversy I can see surrounding this film is why there was ever a controversy in the first place." The film was ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' "Critics Pick" on July 31, 1998, with its critic

Caryn James Caryn A. James (born Caryn A. Fuoroli) is an American film critic, journalist, university lecturer and writer. Biography James is one of at least three children born to James M. Fuoroli Sr. and Joan A. Ford. A native of Providence, Rhode Isla ...

saying, "Rich beyond what anyone could have expected, the film repays repeated viewings...it turns Humbert's madness into art." Writer/director

James Toback James Toback (; born November 23, 1944) is an American film director and screenwriter. His screenplay for ''Bugsy'' won the 1991 Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for best screenplay of the year and was nominated for both the Academy Awa ...

lists it in his picks for the 10 finest films ever made, but he rates the original film higher. Commenting on differences between the novel and the film, Charles Taylor, in ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

'', observes that " r all of their vaunted (and, it turns out, false) fidelity to Nabokov, Lyne and Schiff have made a pretty, gauzy ''Lolita'' that replaces the book's cruelty and comedy with manufactured lyricism and mopey romanticism". Extending Taylor's observation, Keith Phipps concludes: "Lyne doesn't seem to get the novel, failing to incorporate any of Nabokov's black comedy—which is to say, ''Lolitas heart and soul".

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...

and released on the Music Box Records label.''Lolita'' soundtrack
, Music Box Records website As the composer himself described the project: "With my music, I only had to follow on a high level the director's intentions to make ''Lolita'' a story of sincere and reciprocal love, even within the limits of the purity and malicious naiveté of its young subject."

References

;Works cited * Gale, Steven H. ''Sharp Cut: Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process''. Lexington, KY: The UP of Kentucky, 2003. . Print. * Gale, Steven H. (ed.). ''The Films of Harold Pinter''. Albany: SUNY P, 2001. . . Print. * Hudgins, Christopher C. "Harold Pinter's ''Lolita'': 'My Sin, My Soul'." 123–46 in Gale, ''The Films of Harold Pinter''. * Hudgins, Christopher C. "Three Unpublished Harold Pinter Filmscripts: ''The Handmaid's Tale'', ''The Remains of the Day'', ''Lolita''. ''The Pinter Review: Nobel Prize / Europe Theatre Prize Volume: 2005–2008''. Ed. Francis Gillen with Steven H. Gale. Tampa: U of Tampa P, 2008. 132–39. (hardcover). (softcover). . Print. * * * *

External links

* * * * *
Movie stills from ''Lolita''
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