The Hearts of Age

Lolita is a 1997 dark romance dark comedy film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Stephen Schiff. It is the second screen adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel 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 Dolores "Lo" Haze, 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 at the 1997 San Sebastián International Film Festival. After struggling to secure an American distributor, Lolita premiered in the United States on the cable network Showtime on August 2, 1998, before its theatrical release on September 25 by The Samuel Goldwyn Company.