DVD Review: Lolita

Lolita marks the beginning of what I consider to be Kubrick's creative peak. Three films made before Lolita are quite famous too, including the Kirk Douglas-starrer Spartacus. But after Lolita's arrival, Kubrick simply outdid almost everybody else in Hollywood at that time. His movies may have been mainstream, but had none of the usual Hollywood marks on it.

The films that were to come later, especially Dr Stranglove and 2001: A Space Oddyssey, were critically so well-received that I think that perhaps Kubrick had to live the rest of his life living down those movies.
No matter what success he achieved with Clockwork Orange or Barry Lyndon, he was seen as largely a sixties director who never made it again. And the mixed reviews for Eyes Wide Shut didn't help him much.

I haven't seen Spartacus, but Kubrick's craft certainly shot to great heights somewhere between The Killer and Lolita.

Lolita's central theme, both as a film and a novel, is that it potrays a sexual abuser sympathetically and almost as a victim. Humbert Humbert, who arrives in the US to teach, develops a fascination for his landlady's daughter, Dolores Haze, and marries her mother solely to be close to Lo.

The movie deals with Humbert's perverse sexuality, his subsequent fall from the eyes of the society and the most crushing blow - Lo's betrayal of his love. Humbert is played by James Mason, a forgotten actor now, but a notable star of the sixties. He is superbly cast and gives an unusually understated performance. A look of self pity, that's almost stuck to Mason's face at all times, suits his character to a T.

The scene in the hospital when he realises that Quilty has stolen his Lo, is superbly shot by Kubrick. Aided almost by the play of light in that scene, Kubrick brilliantly potrays his character's fall from grace.

The remake is an effeciently made movie by Adrian Lyne. In colour, the landscape of southern America is all the more brilliant. But the internal conflicts that these characters suffer are more satisfying in black and white. Also, Lyne instead of creating a new language for himself, almost copies Kubrick frame by frame.