This film inevitably invites comparison to Kubrick's critically acclaimed 1962 interpretation. The two interpretations, while both more or less faithful to the material, differ widely in tone. Where Kubrick's film is witty, cerebral and detached, Lyne's is passionate and emotionally driven.
Lyne's version is undoubtedly more erotic in tone than Kubrick's. Obviously, the time in which the two films were made is a factor here. More modern sensibilities allowed a younger Lolita and far more sensuality than would likely have been permitted 35 years earlier. This version has drawn some criticism for making Humbert a bit too sympathetic, for making Lo seem too much a seductress. These criticisms are perhaps valid, but there is an artistic advantage: We are seeing this story now through the simultaneously Quixotic and monstrous eyes of Humbert. We aren't given the luxury of watching this one from Kubrick's usual emotional distance nor of seeing Lo portrayed by a woman who is clearly of legal age. As a result, the scenes are both more disturbing and more powerful.
In truth, Kubrick's film is probably more in keeping with Nabokov's witty and almost facetious tone. The characterization of Clare Quilty is a perfect example. In Kubrick's film, Quilty is portrayed by the legendary comic actor Peter Sellers, who captures perfectly the witty wordplay of Quilty. Frank Langella's Quilty had a silky-smooth and sinister-sounding deep voice, but somehow his relatively straight-laced performance seemed out of step with the almost vaudevillian lines he uttered.
For me, though, this actually is a point in Lyne's favor. For Nabokov's Lolita seemed at times to devolve into literary word-play until the story itself seemed merely a hat rack for Nabokov to hang his verbal wit upon. This film instead focuses on the aspects of the novel that have led it be called "the only convincing love story of our century" by Vanity Fair.
Jeremy Irons gives a magnificent performance as Humbert. Much as he did in "Dead Ringers", he gives the impression of someone who combines deviance and vulnerability seamlessly. Dominique Swain was marvelous as Lo/Delores, combining carefree pixie, traumatized victim, and wily seductress into a complex and convincing character. Langella and Melanie Griffith were, I fear, miscast as Quilty and Charlotte Haze respectively.
Lyne's version is undoubtedly more erotic in tone than Kubrick's. Obviously, the time in which the two films were made is a factor here. More modern sensibilities allowed a younger Lolita and far more sensuality than would likely have been permitted 35 years earlier. This version has drawn some criticism for making Humbert a bit too sympathetic, for making Lo seem too much a seductress. These criticisms are perhaps valid, but there is an artistic advantage: We are seeing this story now through the simultaneously Quixotic and monstrous eyes of Humbert. We aren't given the luxury of watching this one from Kubrick's usual emotional distance nor of seeing Lo portrayed by a woman who is clearly of legal age. As a result, the scenes are both more disturbing and more powerful.
In truth, Kubrick's film is probably more in keeping with Nabokov's witty and almost facetious tone. The characterization of Clare Quilty is a perfect example. In Kubrick's film, Quilty is portrayed by the legendary comic actor Peter Sellers, who captures perfectly the witty wordplay of Quilty. Frank Langella's Quilty had a silky-smooth and sinister-sounding deep voice, but somehow his relatively straight-laced performance seemed out of step with the almost vaudevillian lines he uttered.
For me, though, this actually is a point in Lyne's favor. For Nabokov's Lolita seemed at times to devolve into literary word-play until the story itself seemed merely a hat rack for Nabokov to hang his verbal wit upon. This film instead focuses on the aspects of the novel that have led it be called "the only convincing love story of our century" by Vanity Fair.
Jeremy Irons gives a magnificent performance as Humbert. Much as he did in "Dead Ringers", he gives the impression of someone who combines deviance and vulnerability seamlessly. Dominique Swain was marvelous as Lo/Delores, combining carefree pixie, traumatized victim, and wily seductress into a complex and convincing character. Langella and Melanie Griffith were, I fear, miscast as Quilty and Charlotte Haze respectively.