Lolita (1997)
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A middle-aged professor becomes obsessed with a young girl and embarks on a cross-country journey with her.
The story
In 1947, Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged European professor of English literature, travels to the United States to take a teaching position in New Hampshire. He becomes obsessed with the 14-year-old daughter of a woman whose home he is renting. After a series of events leads to the death of the girl's mother, Humbert takes the girl, whom he calls Lolita, on a cross-country journey. He presents their relationship to the world as that of a father and daughter while they travel through various locations, eventually settling in a college town where he takes a teaching job and she begins attending a local school.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1947, Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged European professor of English literature, travels to the United States and becomes obsessed with the 14-year-old daughter of a woman whose home he is renting. After the mother's death, Humbert takes the girl, whom he calls Lolita, on a cross-country journey. They travel together, posing as father and daughter, and eventually settle in the college town of Beardsley. Over time, Lolita grows weary of their life and seeks independence, leading to tension between them. Her situation is further complicated by the presence of Clare Quilty, a playwright who has been pursuing her. Lolita eventually escapes with Quilty. Three years later, she contacts Humbert while married and pregnant. He visits her and offers her money to run away, but she refuses. She reveals that Quilty exploited her and others. Humbert then tracks down Quilty, finds him in a drug-induced stupor, and murders him. Following a pursuit by the police, Humbert is arrested and dies in prison in 1950. Lolita dies shortly thereafter during childbirth.
- First release year
- 1997
- Runtime (minutes)
- 137
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Adrian Lyne
- Writers
- Stephen Schiff · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Jeremy Irons · Humbert Humbert; Melanie Griffith · Charlotte Haze; Frank Langella · Clare Quilty; Dominique Swain · Dolores "Lolita" Haze
- Genres
- dark romance; dark comedy
- Themes
- obsession; forbidden relationships; loss of innocence
- Tone and mood
- dark; romantic
- Premise and plot tags
- road movie; period piece; literary adaptation
- Source material / true-story basis
- Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel
- Reception
- The film received a mixed critical reception in the United States, with some critics praising the performances and others criticizing the adaptation's tone compared to the novel.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 69% · review count: 26; Rotten Tomatoes · score: 7/10 · scale: 10 · review count: 26; Metacritic · score: 46 · scale: 100 · review count: 17
- Production trivia
- The screenplay was written by Stephen Schiff, who was hired after the producers rejected scripts from more experienced writers like Harold Pinter and David Mamet.; The film's timeline was compressed to three years (1947-1950) to accommodate the change of the character's age from twelve to fourteen.; The home of Charlotte Haze was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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