Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003775, Sat, 6 Mar 1999 17:42:30 -0800

Subject
"Lolita" Movie impressions... (fwd)
Date
Body
From: ori <aristo@actcom.co.il>


Lately I wrote about Lyne's movie starting to play in Israel.
Well, I went to see the movie and also talked to some of the people
coming out from the cinema (it was a friday after midnight show and it
was already quarter to three AM... You may guess what some of them
thought about my questioning).

To the movie itself. I think there's no denying that it is apologetic in
both the factual and general mood. The change in Lolita's age at the
start of the story is significant. To a point, it changes the whole story
and almost turns Mr. H. from a pedophile into our friendly neighborhood
childish man who likes to 'make-it-out' with brain-dead high-school
girls. Also, any other hint of H's pedophilic tendencies is either so
thickly veiled or chopped out altogether that one who goes to see the
movie without reading the book beforehand would be somewhat buffled: Why
does he feels so guilty? Why all the agony? One viewer I questioned about
the movie missed the "14 years old" bit and pondered why this was
considred preverted "high school teachers and high school students do it
all the time, what's the big idea?"

Casting does its due to scarf things further. Swain looks womanly and her
rivalry with Griffith (horrible!) seems almost 'normal'. On the face of
it we have two women, one younger, one older, who compete over the
favours of an eligible dark-and-handsome-stranger. (it compares well with
the two versions of Dangerous Liaison - Frierss and Forman's - in Friers
it is Umma Thurman - a 6 fit in-full-bloom woman - and with Forman we
have a little girl, who really looks like a 15 years old girl...


Ori