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Schiff-Lyne LOLITA film
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I joined the Nabokov Forum in August, and this is my first contribution.
Please bear with me if I do something incorrectly and advise me
accordingly! FYI, there's an article in September's _Premiere_ magazine
(though I am cognizant that _Premiere_ isn't in the league of the scholarly
references ordinarily cited in this mailing list) entitled "How do you
solve a problem like Lolita?" In the write-up, Rachel Abramowitz describes
movie director Adrian Lyne's colossal problems and subsequent failure to
find an American distributor for his dream project "Lolita", which he
considers to be "the best movie he has ever made." A great admirer of
Nabokov's genius, Lyne has oftentimes stated that "the book is so great,
you're doomed to fail." However, even he, it seems, believed that some
studio mogul in Hollywood would relent and would release his $50 million
art film in spite of its controversial subject matter. Though he could have
made the film more cheaply, it is noteworthy that Lyne, in his striving to
achieve authenticity, even retraced the U.S. auto trips made by Humbert and
Lolita, played respectively by Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain, and, in
addition, included a sequence actually shot in France of Humbert's earlier
days growing up. One of the chief problems facing Lyne was his requirement
to adhere to the boundaries of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of
1996, a law that forbids not only showing a child engaging in a sex act but
also even the appearance of such behavior. As one might surmise, this
proved most frustrating for Lyne, having to edit the movie to stay within
the confines allowed by law. Consequently, little actual sex is left after
meeting the requirements to receive an R rating as well as the federal law.
It is interesting to note that when "Lolita" was tested in December, 1996,
in Pasadena, California, the author's son and translator, Dmitri Nabokov,
who was present at the screening, thought Lyne's interpretation to be
"Stunning." At least, it appears that Lyne has been fortunate in finding a
number of willing distributors in Europe. For those of you who are
interested, this issue of _Premiere_ should still be available at
newstands.
Gene Tierney
Atlanta, Georgia
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