- Sensibility: Some of the scenes are a bit hard to accept, particularly given the time period of the story. Namely, a conversation while Humbert is in a bath and a series of impersonations by Clare Quilty.
- Cinematography: Visually stunning. It's amazing how good old films can look even compared to many of films of today. Kubrick's framing and lighting choices are so brilliant that this film has more color grading in black and white than many of the modern full-color films today. Production design is also extremely detailed and gives the different locations a feeling of realism.
- Energy: The excellent performances and brilliant visuals keep this film interesting even in moments where the story drags. A few moments of comedic relief are more disappointing than relieving.
- Narrative: I am likely biased in my judgement of the story having read the novel. This story is a hard one to convey in a movie, especially during the time it was made. However, some of the choices around Clare Quilty's character cheapen the story to a point of near slapstick at moments. His character is made to be some kind of performative fool rather than a real human being. While this does have some interesting comedic effects, I think the subject matter of the film requires a strict kind of severity to properly explore the inner conflict of the main character's urges and clarify his decision-making. The novel has a kind of logic to Humbert's sinister behaviors that makes his final meeting with Clare Quilty more understandable and meaningful than it is portrayed in the film.
Without the backstory for Humbert, it's also much harder to condemn the character as intended in the novel. While it's not necessarily fair or critical to compare the novel to the film, I think the lacking nuance in Humbert's impulses in the film is a slight on it regardless.
- T-Points: The film received four bonus points: one for a brilliantly performed scene with an awkward dance where Charlotte comes on to Humbert, one for a scene where Humbert reads a letter from Charlotte, one for brilliant performances from James Mason and Sue Lyon, and one for the brilliant framing and lighting work which create such striking visuals throughout, like a shot looking at a sick Humbert in a hotel room, a shot of a restrained Humbert on a hospital floor, and the entire final sequence between Humbert and Quilty.
It is always hard for a film to live up to a novel, but in this case I think it falls quite a bit short. This is a terribly difficult film to make, especially in the time it was made,
because the story's material is very challenging emotionally and morally, but this film does not do it's best to present that challenge in the same terrific way the book does. While it
has a visual and cinematic brilliance standard for Kubrick, this is not enough to make up for the narrative disappointments.
Number of Watches: 1
