Lolita (1997 film)

Lolita
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAdrian Lyne
Screenplay byStephen Schiff
Based onLolita
by Vladimir Nabokov
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyHoward Atherton
Edited by
Music byEnnio Morricone
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • September 19, 1997 (1997-09-19) (San Sebastian)
  • September 26, 1997 (1997-09-26) (Italy)
  • January 14, 1998 (1998-01-14) (France)
  • September 25, 1998 (1998-09-25) (United States)
Running time
137 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States
  • France
LanguageEnglish
Budget$62 million[2]
Box office$1.1 million (US)[3]

Lolita is a 1997 drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Stephen Schiff. It is the second screen adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel of the same name and stars Jeremy Irons as Humbert Humbert and Dominique Swain as Dolores "Lolita" Haze, with supporting roles by Melanie Griffith as Charlotte Haze and Frank Langella as Clare Quilty.

The film is about a middle-aged professor who is sexually attracted to adolescent girls he calls "nymphets". He rents a room in the house of a young widow to get closer to her 14-year-old daughter Lo, whom he calls "Lolita". Obsessed with the girl, he eventually gains control over her after he takes her cross-country with him.

Compared to Stanley Kubrick's 1962 version, Lyne's film is more overt with many of the novel's darker elements; Kubrick chose to use suggestion and innuendo for comic purposes. Although praised by some critics for its faithfulness to Nabokov's narrative and the performances of Irons and Swain, the film received a mixed critical reception in the United States.

The film premiered in Europe in 1997 before being released in the United States in 1998 because it had difficulty finding an American distributor.[4] It was eventually picked up by the cable network Showtime before finally being released theatrically by The Samuel Goldwyn Company.[5] Similarly, Lolita was met with much controversy in Australia, where it was not given a theatrical release until April 1999.[6]

  1. ^ "Lolita (18)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Movie Lolita – Box Office Data". The Numbers. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  4. ^ James, Caryn (July 31, 1998). "'Lolita': Revisiting a Dangerous Obsession". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  5. ^ Black, Joel (2002). The Reality Effect: Film culture and the graphic imperative. New York: Routledge. p. 262. ISBN 0-415-93721-3.
  6. ^ Wright, Shane (January 1, 2020). "Howard cabinet debated film's merits as viewers stayed away". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 2, 2020.