#BilleGreene

[doomonfilm]

Favorites : Lolita (1962)

I’ve been a major fan and devotee of Stanley Kubrick for ages now... anyone who knows anything about my love of film knows that.  Normally, I don’t need an excuse to dive into his films.  However, with the recent passing of Sue Lyon, I realized just how long it’d been since I sat down and watched Lolita, one of the first films of Kubrick’s to garner major controversy.  The risque subject matter, and the rather frank approach of addressing it, is still shocking to some to this day, and the film remains an early classic in a catalog full of shining achievement. 

Professor Humbert H. Humbert (James Mason), on his way to an assignment at Beardsley College in Ohio, stops in New Hampshire for the summer in hopes of finding a room to rent.  He answers an ad for an available room belonging to Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters), a widow suffering from ferocious sexual frustration, and at first he is turned off, but his mind quickly changes after seeing Charlotte’s daughter Dolores (Sue Lyon), who answers to Lolita.  The young Lolita is beautiful and flirtatious, and Humbert finds himself head over heels for her, despite the massive age gap between them.  Charlotte, with her demanding and obsessive nature, clings heavily to Humbert, and in a play to get alone time with him, she sends Lolita away to summer camp, while simultaneously putting an ultimatum of marriage towards Humbert if he chooses to stay.  Humbert regretfully accepts in hopes of biding time until Lolita returns, but upon discovering his intentions, Charlotte falls into a fit of rage, leading to a fatal accident.  Humbert takes advantage of the situation, picking up Lolita and keeping the news of her mother a secret for days, all the while attempting to woo her, and due to her grief, Lolita decides to stay with Humbert, attending a high school near Beardsley College when Humbert accepts his position.  During the school year, a mysterious Dr. Zempf (Peter Sellers), who turns out to be famous playwright and director Claire Quilty in disguise, convinces Humbert to allow Lolita to take part in the school play, but Humbert soon discovers that Zempf has other plans for Lolita.  Humbert attempts to take her away, but during a hospital visit, Humbert leaves her unattended, only to find her missing when he checks in on her.  Humbert is shattered, and dedicates his life to finding Lolita and rekindling the attraction between them, discovering shocking truths along the way.

Kubrick puts on a masterclass in insinuation, with layers upon layer of subtext bursting through the seams of the narrative.  Large doses of visual gags accompany the verbal titillation, with this combination of scintillating subject matter famously earning tons of backlash against the film from supporters of the Production Code and the Catholic Legion of Decency, despite Kubrick’s toning down of the intimacy between Humbert and Lolita found in the original novel.  The film is extremely self-aware, using humor to soften the shock of the subject matter, but not making light of it or glorifying it.  The way that the dramatic tension is fueled by the tangle of sexual tensions hits the root tone of the novel in the only way that film is able to.

The narrative is fueled on gaslighting, mind games and lies that fly from all sides.  The levels of emotional manipulation coming from all parties involved is really and truly toxic.  By default, there are no true heroes, villians, protagonists or antagonists, but if these roles must be designated, Lolita would be the protagonist by default due to her age, and Claire Quilty would be the antagonist due to his malicious, trickster nature.

Lolita is not afraid to be funny, even in the shadow of such controversial subject matter, with Peter Sellers even making a mocking reference to Spartacus right out of the gate.  The writing is humor-filled poetry, with the verbal pugilism flying between characters in a fast and furious nature.  Kubrick reels in the cinematic flare of his previous films, opting instead for reserved cinematography that allows the story to be front and center, with his boldest compositions coming in the climax and falling action.  On top of that, he somehow manages to lean into the controversy, almost celebrating the risque moments in anticipation of public backlash.

James Mason is delightfully pitiful, toeing the line between hapless idiot and lovestruck fool as he exudes desperation for lust, followed by desperation for revenge.  Sue Lyons is sly and coy, putting up a front of maturity propped up by a foundation of innocence, wonder and fear.  Peter Sellers does what he does best, donning multiple character hats in a preview of what he would later master in his continued collaboration with Kubrick.  Shelley Winters plays the character that garners the most sympathy, inviting the poisonous element into her home that eventually unravels the worlds of many characters.  These four are the root of the story, with a host of memorable faces filling in the spaces to keep the story moving forward in the most entertaining way possible.

Lolita is the kind of film that can really push certain viewer’s buttons.  For those unable to suspend disbelief, the experience of the film is most certainly uncomfortable.  If taken at face value as a piece of art, however, the film really and truly stands up, joining Dr. Strangelove, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb in the rare air of Kubrick comedies.