Adrian Lyne`s film version of Vladimir Nabakov`s novel Lolita is more faithful to the source than Stanley Kubrick`s 1962 version. For one thing, it takes place in the post-World War II period, which the earlier film did not, and you really get a feeling for Middle America - the backroads, the motels - of the period, something entirely lacking from Kubrick.
Jeremy Irons is Humbert Humbert, who lost his first love at the age of 14 and continues a doomed search to recapture it. He arrives in a small mid-western town to teach at the local college and rents a room in the house of Charlotte Haze, Melanie Griffith, whose energetic, inquisitive daughter, Lolita, Dominique Swain, openly flirts with him. Humbert`s obsession with Lolita leads, inexorably to tragedy.
Despite occassional moments of humour the overall mood is melancholy and there`s no truth to the contention that the film condones pedophilia - indeed, the entire censorship fuss that surrounds it is a gloomy throwback to the kind of debate going on in this country 35 years ago. Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain are excellent in their roles and Frank Langella, in the role Peter Sellers formerly made so memorable, is impressive as the odious Quilty.Margaret`s Comments: Adrien Lyne has a reputation for going for the exploitative jugular in his films - 9 1/2 weeks, Fatal Attraction - so the restraint and sensitivity with which he`s approached this film is much appreciated. An impressive performance from Jeremy Irons and a knockout one from Dominique Swain really give weight to this tragic, occasionally comic, story of one man`s transgression against innocence. Swain`s tightrope act, balancing youthful naivete with pubescent knowingness, makes us understand Humbert`s fear of, and the inevitable reality of losing her out of his life. A beautiful-looking film, intelligently written for the screen, that is ultimately tremendously moving.
