Lolita (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

while leafing through the EPG this afternoon I decided that I'd stay up until around 0200 to do two things:
1. To get adjusted to the graveyard shift rhythm.
2. To finally see Lolita, the 1962 Cubrick movie.

Lolita had always been on my list of want-to-see movies, partially due to curiosity but mostly because it was supposed to be a classic. And I have to admit: that flick really is worth the acclaim that it's gotten!

It's hard to describe the genius of the story. On the one hand you want to loathe Humbert, the detestable fellow who's having all kinds of sordid affairs with his teenage stepdaughter. And on the other hand you cannot help but feel sympathy and compassion for Humbert, the old, unstable fellow who's being played every way till Christmas by this manipulative and sultry vixen. On the one hand you really want to hate scheming and too-grown-up-for-her-own-good Dolores, while on the other hand you want to love her, the naive and beautiful young girl that she is.

While I wasn't blown away by Mason's portrayal of Humbert, I do have to say that both Sue Lyon and Peter Sellers were excellently cast! Especially Sellers! That man has got to be a genius among actors. which reminds me that I have to put Dr. Strangelove on that to-see list.

By the by: I had no clue that there was a 1997 remake of Lolita. Now maybe some day I'll have to read the book as well. For those interested, here's an article telling why the book is still relevant today.

EDIT (continued from yesterday):
And relevant it will remain for as long as mankind exists, because I doubt anyone has figured out yet what it is exactly that makes one fall in love for a certain kind of person. As far as I know it can still be completely random. In this case Lolita takes a serious look at what would happen if you fall in love with a teenaged girl (American Beauty did the same) and on the other end of the scale Little Britain takes a comical approach to what would happen if you fell in love with a geriatric woman.

Whatever it is that makes you go "mmm" about a person, I'm fairly sure that it's not considerate enough to do an age check to see if it would be appropriate. That's where society expects your brain to step in, to keep you from doing anything that would fall in the "ill-advised" category. And usually that works a treat, because unlike Dolores or the school girls from Battle Royal, most high school girls don't go out actively looking for older men.

Putting that aside though, I think most of us can relate to Humbert at least in one way. I'm referring to moments when you go mad with desire for a person, where you would do anything to get their affection and where they have you wrapped around their finger. It's a strangely wonderful feeling, knowing that you're completely at the whim of someone else and that you really just ought to get out of the room, but you can't because _something_ won't let you. And that's where your brain is supposed to step in, should it concern inappropriate subjects, like Humbert's Dolores.

All in all it makes for an interesting case in psychology, although I'm actually convinced that it's as much chemistry as it is psychology. I'm sure I'll be pondering the subject for the next few days. Posted in: lolita , movie review