"Lolita" 100% Kubrick stamp, controversial work that still causes debate

"Lolita" synopsis

In Ramsdale, New Hampshire, European exile Humbert Humbert falls deeply in love. He plans to marry Charlotte Hayes, but he is not interested in Charlotte, but in a young woman.

Index

• “Kubrick’s all-rights film” made in reaction to “Spartacus”
• The role of Humbert, who was told "no" by all the famous actors.
• Sue Leung's acting career went downhill
• Peter Sellers, a genius comedic actor, a talent that Kubrick admired.
• Influence on contemporary pop culture

“Kubrick’s all-rights film” made in reaction to “Spartacus”

For the rest of his life, Stanley Kubrick did not acknowledge `` Spartacus '' (60) as his own work. A historical spectacle set in the Roman Republic era, depicting the rebellion of the gladiator Spartacus on a grand scale. It received high praise from critics and won four Academy Awards in 1960. However, Kubrick, who was suddenly called in to replace director Anthony Mann, was unable to control the film and was unable to tolerate the fact that he was merely a director for hire. If you read interviews from that time, you can tell that there was a lot of frustration.

"'Spartacus' is the only film I made without any restraint. I was a director hired to promote a company's business in the old Hollywood tradition. Kirk Douglas, Dalton Trumbo, He was the producer, and I was at their mercy from the scenario to the selection of actors.'' (quoted from ``World Film Writers 2: John Frankenheimer/Stanley Kubrick/Arthur Penn'', Kinema Junposha)

"Lolita" preview

For Kubrick, a perfectionist, a director is someone who has all the power to make a film. The first work that made that wish come true was ``Lolita'' (62). The film is based on the novel of the same name published in 1955 by Vladimir Nabokov. The sensational story of Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged university professor, falls in love with a 12-year-old girl Lolita, and it was a huge hit in the United States, selling 100,000 copies in the first three weeks. Novelist Graham Greene praised it as ``one of the three best books of 1955,'' and it quickly gained the status of a classic.

On the other hand, it has been banned in several countries including France. One editor called it ``unscrupulous pornography,'' and the New York Times gave it a harsh review in its book review section. Still, Kubrick invested the director's fee for `` Paths of Glory '' (1957) and the screenplay fee for `` One-Eyed Jack '' (1961) (a film starring and directed by Marlon Brando, but Kubrick was originally scheduled to direct) to make the film. purchase rights.

He considered this work to be a great love story. The structure of ``being inhibited by society due to immoral behavior'' that existed in classic romance novels such as `` Romeo and Juliet ,'' ` `Anna Karenina ,'' `` Madame Bovary ,'' and `` The Red and the Black '' has been replaced with a moral They praised it as a work that was reinterpreted within the framework of the new era of the 20th century, when values ​​had collapsed.

By the way, at the beginning of this movie, in the scene where the main character Humbert visits the screenwriter Quilty's mansion, there is an exchange like this.

"Are you Quilty?"

"It's Spartacus. Did you come here to free the slaves?"

It's clearly a parody of his own work, "Spartacus." He probably likened the fact that he had once been a hired director who had no control over his work to become the full-time director of ``Lolita'' to the ``emancipation of slaves.''

The role of Humbert, who was told "no" by all the famous actors.