Still a stunner after 50 years
It's not the book, but both Nabokov and Kubrick knew that they couldn't film the novel as it was. So Nabokov brilliantly adapted his own book, making an essentially new story out of it, bringing Quilty to the fore and giving Peter Sellers an amazing opportunity to get ready for Dr. Strangelove. Sue Lyon's performance is remarkable for its unforced, perfect teen mix of turmoil, boredom, and teasing.
The novel is a tragedy, with Humbert as a brilliant, creepy, narcissistic monster for whom Lolita isn't a stepdaughter, but a twisted fantasy. While a largely passive victim in the novel, in the movie, Lolita is older and more able to defend herself and end up on top, so to speak. Humbert is obsessed with criminal thoughts, but not a criminal in act. Movies by their nature have to be more realistic or naturalistic, and modernist experiments like the novel tend to not fit the medium. Thus the tale was retold as an near-consummated obsession, and the villainy is shifted to Quilty, who becomes the real criminal in place of Humbert. Lolita dies at the end of the novel; not so in the film. Rather Quilty dies in her place after the transposition from book to cinema.
There are some myths floating around about the original Lolita, which can be quickly dispelled by reading any decent study or history of the film. While Sue Lyon was a remarkable 14/15-year-old actress, she's supposed to be 16 in the film when she first meets Humbert, and 19 in the final scene. (In the novel, she's 12 and 16, respectively.) There was no US film rating system at the time, and most films for general release had to fit the Hays code or something like it. (There were no R- or X-rated films in 1962, although there was an underground of low-grade porn shorts.) Nabokov's decision to adapt the novel himself stemmed from his belief that, if someone was going to butcher the story, he should do it himself. Because the film was made in the UK, Kubrick had to satisfy just one censor, the British film board, which in effect became a collaborator.
The film is full of brilliant gags that repay close attention. (Who is Vivian Darkbloom, and what does her name really mean?) Also worth close attention is Nabokov's incisive portrait of the then-new American teenager. Pray tell, in the film, are not Humbert or Charlotte the abused, and their precious baby the casual abuser?
The novel is a tragedy, with Humbert as a brilliant, creepy, narcissistic monster for whom Lolita isn't a stepdaughter, but a twisted fantasy. While a largely passive victim in the novel, in the movie, Lolita is older and more able to defend herself and end up on top, so to speak. Humbert is obsessed with criminal thoughts, but not a criminal in act. Movies by their nature have to be more realistic or naturalistic, and modernist experiments like the novel tend to not fit the medium. Thus the tale was retold as an near-consummated obsession, and the villainy is shifted to Quilty, who becomes the real criminal in place of Humbert. Lolita dies at the end of the novel; not so in the film. Rather Quilty dies in her place after the transposition from book to cinema.
There are some myths floating around about the original Lolita, which can be quickly dispelled by reading any decent study or history of the film. While Sue Lyon was a remarkable 14/15-year-old actress, she's supposed to be 16 in the film when she first meets Humbert, and 19 in the final scene. (In the novel, she's 12 and 16, respectively.) There was no US film rating system at the time, and most films for general release had to fit the Hays code or something like it. (There were no R- or X-rated films in 1962, although there was an underground of low-grade porn shorts.) Nabokov's decision to adapt the novel himself stemmed from his belief that, if someone was going to butcher the story, he should do it himself. Because the film was made in the UK, Kubrick had to satisfy just one censor, the British film board, which in effect became a collaborator.
The film is full of brilliant gags that repay close attention. (Who is Vivian Darkbloom, and what does her name really mean?) Also worth close attention is Nabokov's incisive portrait of the then-new American teenager. Pray tell, in the film, are not Humbert or Charlotte the abused, and their precious baby the casual abuser?
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