A few months ago I read the book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and fell into a twisted sort of obsession with the unlikely love story it portrays. Lolita is not an easy book or film to write about, but I'll try to sum up the plot in a few lines: the story is centred around a middle-aged man, Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed with 12-year-old Dolores Haze, the daughter of the woman at whose house he is lodging. After marrying her mother to get closer to Dolores (who is also called Dolly, Lo, and Lolita in the novel) and her mother's accidental death, Humbert ends up taking custody of Lolita.

I originally intended to watch the 1997 version of Lolita, but after a happy mistake at the DVD rental store we ended up with the 1962 version, which was probably a lot more tame and low-key. I don't regret seeing the early version, however I'm still keen to watch the later version if I ever find it.

As I said, I'd wanted to see Lolita for quite a while, long before I read the book, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Although at first I was a bit wary of it being in black and white, before long it was barely noticeable and I really don't think it would have been the same in colour. The film started off pretty slow and unclear as to what was happening, and even having read the book before I wasn't quite sure what was going on - but the story soon picked up and from then on I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I haven't seen that many old films, but I think Lolita was quite typical of the 60s era in the acting and screenplay. The background music just screamed 'old movie', and the way the scenes ran into each other and told the story definitely belonged to a bygone age. 

In conclusion, I enjoyed Lolita a lot - there was just something about the authentic vintage feel that I loved, in addition to the storyline, obviously. I would recommend the film to anyone who has heard of Lolita or likes slightly risqué plot concepts.

Rating

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥