So this is the film adaptation of the famous novel made by the famous director Stanley Kubrick. I have neither read the novel nor watched any adaptation, but Lolita is very much part of the cultural background everyone is familiar with so there’s nothing very shocking or surprising here. While this is a solid film and the material itself is extraordinary, I found this to be a straightforward, uninspired adaptation that has few signs of Kubrick’s usual genius.

Humbert Humbert is an European professor who is due to take up a position at an American school and searches for suitable accommodation. One such place he visits is the home of the widowed Charlotte Haze but Humbert seems uninterested until he sees the adolescent yet alluring daughter Dolores who is nicknamed Lolita. As Humbert settles down to life as a renter in the house, it becomes apparent that Charlotte is interested in him but he has eyes only for Lolita and does his best to dissuade her interest in other boys of her age. Eventually Charlotte asks Humbert to marry her and he agrees in order to stay close to Lolita. However she eventually discovers the diary that Humbert keeps and learns of his true feelings. He contemplates murdering her but lacks the nerve and then she dies in a car accident anyway. It is implied but not explicitly shown that Humbert then becomes involved in an sexual relationship with Lolita. A Hollywood writer Clare Quilty learns of their relationship however and being interested in Lolita himself, schemes to pull Lolita away from him.

Being a film made in the 1960s and being based on what was already a highly controversial novel at the time, Kubrick was greatly restricted in what he was able to show onscreen and the results speak for themselves. Though there are double entendres and a notable scene of Humbert painting Lolita’s toenails to hint at the sexual nature of their relationship, the lack of anything so much as a kiss between the character greatly dilutes the erotic tension that is need to make this story work. It tries to make up for that in other ways, some of which are good such as Humbert’s increasingly irrational paranoia and jealousy  as he tries to bind Lolita to himself and only himself. Other elements however feel like unworthy distractions such as attempts to inject a comedic tone to some scenes, such as Quilty’s impersonations and Humbert mocking Charlotte’s fervor. They are very much in line with Kubrick’s penchant for dark humor but seem out of place in this film.

Many other choices in the film also feel ill advised. As I understand it, the character of Quilty has been greatly elevated in importance here compared to the novel and the structure of the film makes it so that the most important event is the murder. Kubrick seems more invested in the scenes between Quilty and Humbert and those between Lolita and Humbert. Other mistakes include the fact that Lolita still looks rather glamorous at the end of the film when she should instead look like a dowdy housewife and how the film completely ignores Humbert’s past and his predilection for young girls, It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Kubrick is focusing on the wrong things, ignoring what makes Lolita such a distinctive novel.

That’s not to say that this is a bad film. The material is excellent and this at least a well-made film. However it doesn’t achieve the greatness that one has come to expect out of Kubrick and indeed I suspect that he might not be the best choice after all as the director to make a film about human sexuality.