Lolita

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and the Beast
Review: This film is absolutely breathtaking. Placed in the late 1940s the costuming and scenery add to the beauty in a way that the 1962 version fails. Each role is perfectly cast. Jeremy Irons conveys his absolute lust and unending devotion to Lolita from their very first encounter in the piazza with such gentle execution. At the end, in his demise, you can't help but be saddened by the loss of the passion with which he expresses himself to Lolita. He is piteous, and she spoiled, but they control each other and depend on one another in such a way that in the end their relationship destroys them both. Dominique Swain is absolutely sensuous and alluring even while playing the 11-year-old Lolita, and through her interpretation we are able to see the source of Humbert Humbert's lust and adoration. How could he help but be smitten by this absolutely divine and devilish creature? Their relationship is always complicated, but always believable.
If you've read the book, please see this movie. As in any movie adaptation, there are sections left out, but I don't find the film to be lacking in any way. If you've seen the older version with James Mason and were disappointed, then give this movie a chance, because the scenery, the music, and above all the effective portrayal of the two classic characters will make you fall in love with the story (if you haven't already done so).

Rating:
Summary: A BEAUTIFUL FILM WITH A BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS!!!!!!!!!
Review: ALL THE ACTORS IN THIS FILM WERE VERY GOOD. THE STORY IS VERY INTERESTING AND IT KEEPS YOU HOPING THAT IT WILL NEVER END. I JUST COULDN'T GET ENOUGH OF DOMINIQUE SWAIN IN THIS FILM!!
I HAVEN'T SEEN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS FILM, HOWEVER THIS VERSION IS QUITE BEAUTIFUL.
IT'S A VERY SAD AND TRAGIC STORY, HOWEVER IT'S MEANT TO BE JUST THAT.
IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE, THEN SEE IT AT ALL COSTS.
AND SHOULD THE STORY FAIL TO KEEP YOUR INTEREST, I'M SURE DOMINIQUE SWAIN WILL KEEP YOU WATCHING!!

TO SUM IT ALL UP, THIS FILM SHOWCASES A BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS IN A BEAUTIFUL FILM!!!
DOMINIQUE SWAIN HAS A BEAUTY UNSURPASSED BY NO OTHER AND AS LONG AS SHE IS AROUND, I WILL BE A FAN OF HER AND HER FILMS!!!

Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: If you think the novel was sexy, please read it again carefully. It is without a doubt one of the best works of literature in the 20th Century, but it definitely is not sexy.

This is another example of a movie not living up to a work of great literature. For one, and this is very problematic, the character played by Jeremy Irons is no where near the moral monster created by Nabokov. Humbert Humbert, as people who hastily read the novel NEVER remember, is the man who contemplates the day when Dolores loses her "magic nymphage" and bares him a child, "a Lolita the Second who would be eight or nine around 1960." (p. 174). In other words, this pedophile could double his vileness by adding incest into the mix. And the other instances of his moral nullity are too many to mention. The only problem is that readers get snowed by him and charmed by his style and forget all about his violation of a young girl.

I write these lines because the Top 500 reviewers gives a contradictory message. On the one hand, he says that Humbert Humbert's crime was his possessiveness and the perverted nature of his love for her. Meaning, I presume, that parents and guardians shouldn't rape or force sex on their children. But then in the last paragraph the reviewer says that,"she [Dolores, a 12 year old girl] has all the sexual power." That is nonsense, and it is dangerously misleading do say so. Just because a pedophile craves her doesn't mean that she has any power whatsoever. His repeated manipulations and outright forcings of her demonstrate as much. I just wish Irons and Lyne had enough sense to keep this in mind about H.H..

So if the movie misreads the novel's main character, how good can it get? There are tense and moving scenes, but all-in-all, it's too "cute." The problem with the cinema medium here is that we view the scenes with some objectivity, watching both characters speak and act, whereas the novel is strictly within the parameters, the poetic and montrous parameters, of Humbert Humbert's mind.

Rating:
Summary: A very special movie, which will be generally missunderstood
Review: Paedofilie? Back off cowards! Great acting, easy, deep, sensual and unforgetable. This version of the movie is rated and cut.

Rating:
Summary: lolita from 1997
Review: Im a 15-year old girl, who recently watched the
movie lolita, a few years ago i watched the original
one with sue lyon, who is a true beauty, a nymphet.
Thats not what i can say about dominique swain.
Althoug she is pretty and she played her part verry
good, lolita must be VERRY atracctive like sue was,
being a child but stil look grown. Miss swain is wearing skimpy
outfits made for litlle childeren for lets say the age of eight-
nine?? She's wearing braces and actually she's no nymphet.
What i don't understand is why they don't tell us the age of the
girl, sue lyon was 15 when she nailed the part for lolita.But
what age did she played? 14,15?? Dominique also was 15 when she
played the part and also with her i diddn't knew what age she
played. The scenes on the chair, in bed and in the car let
you see who sick humbert was. Jeremy irons did a verry good job.
Swains part playing lolita was verry good also althoug i already said it, lolita should be a true beauty, a girl who looks prettier than any other girl. And dominique diddn't really
let that show. I think brooke shields was a good example
of a lolita, a nymphet. too bad she never played lolita......

Rating:
Summary: A discomfiting look at paedophilia fails at a basic level
Review: This film suffers from a fatal flaw: not one of the four characters is even remotely sympathetic. After a perfunctory glance at the main character's past, we are suddenly thrust into his intense infatuation with the 'nymphette' of the title. We are rarely given a clue into who he really is, and only ever see him as he is when overwhelmed with a pathological sexual obsession with a teenage girl. Throughout the rest of the film, we are only introduced to two other characters, and we have no reason to like any of them; more to the point, there is no reason to care what happens to any of them.

The director is at pains to continually refresh our memory as to the fact of Lolita's age (she is 14, unlike in Kubrick's earlier version, which made her 16, for obvious reasons) usually at the moment just where she is most sexually alluring, by giving us some visual reminder of her youth: braces; bubble-gum. The effect is quite sickening, but it is not enough to make us feel anything for the character. This might not be so regrettable if we were given someone else with whom to identify; as it is, we are left with nothing to draw us into the story, no overriding reason to be concerned with any of the characters, none of whom elicited in this reviewer anything other than indifference to their plight.

Rating:
Summary: Steamy Story, Nice Cinematography, Unfortunate Editing
Review: Great film in keeping with the timeless classic novel. I recommend the DVD version with its extra scenes. They took out some of the best scenes before releasing it to theaters...

Rating:
Summary: Wait for the Unrated version
Review: I don't know why they waste time issuing the rated version. When I buy a DVD I want to see the way it was originally made - not some watered down version that some censor wants me to see. So I will wait and when and if they release this the way it was originally made, I will buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Gets me every time
Review: I saw this movie a couple years ago, and can't praise it enough. I rented it on a whim, I didn't really know the story line or anything. But I absolutely loved it.
I laughed, I cried, I was horrified! This movie is full of emotion, I never get tired of it. The actors are great, Dominique Swain really shines. Watch this, read the book, get the soundtrack. All are great.

Rating:
Summary: A Tough Movie to Like, but Well Told and Acted
Review: Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain stand out in this re-telling of the classic puberty-meets-adulthood tale. The subject matter alone keeps plenty of folks from experiencing the depth of emotion and honesty these characters display, or the core resounding themes of forgiveness, beauty and the spiritual levels of sex so many people would rather do without. Suffice it to say, it's an exploration of an intimate, delicate matter - yet one that would not have seemed so out of place just a few generations ago..that of an older man longing for a child-becoming-a-woman. Swain's grace is a perceptive trait she's given to the character, lending her weight and value rather than just being a source of scorn or pitty. Far from it, Swain makes Lolita likeable, an adult feeling child for whom sitting on an older man's lap retains its innocence and charm, while at the same time evokes new, unexpected feelings and sensualities that complicate matters...Uncynical, fresh and perceptive, this Lolita is a joyous bittersweet tale of redemption and loss, with startling performances from the two leads.