Lolita (1962)

Starring: James Mason, Shelly Winters, Sue Lyon, Peter Sellers, Garry Cockrell.

Director: Stanley Kubrick.

There are few movies that are capable of making me truly uncomfortable, and "Lolita" is without a doubt one of those films.  For anyone not familiar with the plot: Humbert Humbert (played here by James Mason, who is admittedly excellent while being very repellent) is seeking a room for rent.  He comes across the home of Charlotte Haze, who is immediately interested in him.  He is irritated and disinterested with Charlotte...until he sees her Teenage Daughter Lolita sunning in the back yard...and immediately moves in, marries Charlotte, and ultimately engages in a sexual relationship with Lolita until she eventually leaves him.  It's creepy.

Beyond the unpleasant nature of the story, Kubrick's film is rather well done for the most part, even thought it's structured a little uneven and kind of drags for large portions of narrative.  The first act is undoubtedly the strongest, while the whole affair is primarily rooted in fantasy and voyeurism: the way the scenes are staged and cut accentuates the tension and is very creepy without getting too gross.  After that, things kind of unravel.

The film's greatest strength is the energetic performance by Shelly Winters as Charlotte, who gives such a manic, desperate performance that is manages to venture into territories of sadness, comedy and even a little scary.  Every scene she has with Mason is a work of art, especially their post-wedding sequence, where she bounces from emotion to emotion with such frenzy that it's startling.  The character is easily the only truly sympathetic one in the entire thing, too, which helps considerably but also harms the film as a whole: once she's gone, so does our attention span.

Speaking of Mason: he's fantastic in this.  Truly.  But the character of Humbert is so utterly loathsome at every turn that it's easy to look past his performance choices, which are truly glorious.  Sue Lyon is a difficult nut to crack, though: she's very good for the most part, presenting Lolita with a sense of childishness, with some levels of sensuality, but she never really quite finds the right balance and feels far too passive in events, especially for a Kubrick film.  

Rounding out the cast is an obnoxious Peter Sellers, whose zany shtick always start interesting and amusing but quickly starts to grate on the nerves.  A little pulling back on his part would have gone a long way, since he's best when he's quietly observing events throughout the fringes of the film.

Much like "Spartacus" and "The Killing," "Lolita" is a movie of moments.  Certain scenes, like when Charlotte is teaching Humbert how to dance, or early on when Humbert is confronting Sellers (featuring one of the most beautifully handled murders I've seen on film-that bit with the painting is gorgeous), are showcases of how good Kubrick is in staging and presenting a scene.  Unfortunately, he can't work the same magic in most of the scenes between Lolita and Humbert, which is problematic because it makes up seventy-five percent of the film.

Final Thoughts: It's a difficult watch, but sporadically brilliant and beautiful.  Other times, it repells, annoys, and even occasionally bores.

Final rating: Three Stars.