Wednesday 11 May 2016

The problems with censors

Lolita (1962)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick this film based on the novel of the same name stars James Madson, Sue Lyon, Shelley Winters and Peter Sellers. A professor tries to ignore the amorous attentions of his land lady while obsessing over her underage daughter.

Thanks to censorship of the time it was essentially impossible to film an adaptation of the novel as is and I think the film does suffer in it's treatment of the material thanks to this hamstringing by censorship. There some darkly comedic moments but it always feels like the film is only ever scratching the surface. I enjoyed the performances but ultimately I do not think it is possible to put this film up there with Kubrick's other masterpieces.


3/5

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