Lolita Reviews

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the last movie directed by Adrian Lyne that I hadn’t seen so far, I was actually quite eager to check it out, in spite of its rather notorious reputation. The tricky thing with this movie, and the previous version or the book, is that it deals with such a cringe-inducing story and, after all these years, it still remains one of the most disturbing tales. Eventually, it is the kind of movies that make you feel really dirty while you are watching it and also afterwards because it is pretty much a reminder that men are essentially wired to have sex with anything that moves. Concerning the story itself, even though I saw Kubrick’s version, it was years ago and I have to admit that I didn’t remain it much in details. Anyway, concerning the cast, Jeremy Irons was a perfect choice to play Humbert Humbert and he delivered another solid performance. I was also positively surprised by Melanie Griffith who can be really weak but she was well cast for this movie. However, the most important part was eventually played by Dominique Swain and, to be honest, I wonder how, after auditioning about 2500 girls, they ended up with her. I mean, she wasn’t helped by the fact that she had to play this character as a total brat (it’s probably how she was described in the book). It is not that she was really bad, it’s just that she didn’t look the part at all, in my opinion. Indeed, in my mind, a ‘Lolita’ should be a disturbing and dangerous mix of a child with a femme fatale look and, somehow, such a girl might be able to push such a disturbed man into seeking eternal damnation for her. Well, Swain didn’t display all these 'qualities' which made the whole thing even more cringe-inducing to behold. Anyway, to conclude, I will probably never re-watch this movie again but, if you have the stomach to handle such disturbing material, I guess it might still be worth a look.