mr. lyne, mr. irons, and especially ms. swain are just super. the result is a film that raises serious questions about the merit of the novel. i have read nabokov critically very recently, with annotations and author's comments, and have concluded that neither the story nor the prose warrants the elevated position in american literature that the book seems to enjoy. mr. lyne's movie reveals the over-appraisal of the book precisely because it is so good. it is marvelous cinematic work, and its glaring weakness is the relative pointlessness of its plot. yes, it is a tragic study of humbert etc. etc. but after all of this attention, doesn't it seem that mr. lyne's and mr. irons's time and skill could have been better spent on a less fatuous bit of schlock?
Review of Lolita
