Lolita
(1997)
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Lyne (FATAL ATTRACTION) tries his hand at a more faithful adaptation of Nabokov's novel than Kubrick was allowed to attempt in 1962. In the process, Irons gives an amazing, tortured performance as Humbert Humbert, the professor who can not control his physical desires for 12 year-old Dolores Haze (Swain). Swain also turns in an exceptional performance as the title character. Controversy surrounded the production to the point where it languished, completed, on the shelf, for almost 2 years looking for an American distributor. The film had a successful European run before making its American debut on the Showtime cable network, and finally, to a limited art house run. |
It was a thankless task, putting Vladimir Nabokov's notorious 1955 novel on the screen. But after Stanley Kubrick's valiant, inventive and funny attempt in 1961 (which Nabokov himself scripted), why try again? To be fair, this 1997 version isn't as sacrilegious as it might have been, with the flashy, superficial Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal) at the helm. However, it is Lyne's bid for artistic “respectability” (the artful shots, the fidelity to the book) that is also the film's undoing. It looks good, but lacks danger. Despite a compelling, tortured turn from Jeremy Irons as Humbert — and a seductive one from Dominique Swain as Lolita — it's all a little too cosmetic and soft-focused. Although some might say that makes it even more insidiously controversial.
Halliwell's Film Guide
An unexpectedly bland remake, though it is, in outline, faithful to Nabokov's original; it fails in its depiction of the forbidden, lacking any sense of obsessional passion.