LOLITA (1962)

Country: U.K. / U.S.A.

Genre(s): Comedy / Drama

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Cast: James Mason / Sue Lyon / Shelley Winters

Plot

A literature professor becomes sexually obsessed with his landlady’s teenage daughter.

What I Liked

From what I’ve read, “Lolita” is one of the least admired films of director Stanley Kubrick.  While I haven’t yet seen all of Kubrick’s films, I’ve seen several and I have to say that it ranks up there with “The Shining” in my top two of those that I have seen.  Indeed, it’s one of my favorite films of the 1960s.

Taking on the shocking subject matter of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel and working from a script written by Nabokov himself, the film hardly skirts around the novel’s controversial sexuality.  As was the case with the novel, the film’s frankness and perversity was what made the film so outrageous for its time.  However, the shock value has very little to do with the true greatness of this movie.  The true source of the movie’s power is in what Nabokov, Kubrick, and crew do with their twisted tale, how they toy with the expectations of the audience.  The film works as well as a dark comedy as it does as a psychological thriller.  Where one would expect teenage Lolita to be the victim, accosted by middle-aged Professor Humbert, the reverse is just as true.  Most importantly, a squeamish disorientation of all of the wholesome Americana popularly associated with the film’s Mayberry-like setting pervades virtually every social interaction involving Humbert.  For 1960s audiences, things like this weren’t supposed to happen in small town America.  To the film’s credit, that unsettling discomfort can still tingle the spines of twenty-first century viewers.

The stand-out quality that makes “Lolita” so entertaining is its performances.  James Mason, Sue Lyon, Shelley Winters, and Peter Sellers all do an impeccable job of making absolutely despicable and pathetic individuals fascinating and engaging.  While we never actually like any one of their characters,  we cannot take our eyes off of any one of them.  Mason gives the best performance I’ve seen from him, one that almost single-handedly makes him one of my absolute favorites of the era.  Lyon is alluring enough to make the audience feel the guilt Humbert doesn’t, and keeps us guessing as to whether she is just a selfish teenager or an unscrupulous temptress.  Winters somehow gives a both hilarious and heartbreaking performances as a lonely widow whose desire to be the ideal wife and mother drives her to become the exact opposite.  And Sellers improvises brilliantly through a handful of appearances as the perverse playwright Clare Quilty, stealing the scene from anyone he shares it with (an impressive feat, since that is usually Mason).

What I Didn’t Like

Few movies from the 1960s are better.  I can’t think of anything.  It’s fascinating from start to finish.

Most Memorable Scene

The opening scene features a post-orgy ping pong game confrontation between drunken Clare Quilty and reluctant Professor Humbert.  Both actors are magnificent.  It’s an enthralling introduction to both characters and does a marvelous job of making the audience want more.

My Rating: 5 out of 5