Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002457, Fri, 10 Oct 1997 10:16:28 -0700

Subject
Schiff/Lyne LOLITA film (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE. Peter Kartsev is an English-Russian translator living in
Moscow.
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I have just translated short interviews with Lyne and
Irons as well as two short extracts from the new "Lolita" for a Russian TV
program. Irons apparently received some prize at the San Sebastian
festival, even though the film, as far as I know, was shown out of
competition. Lyne didn't say anything new, and Irons was speaking of the
difficulties he had had while working with Dominique Swain, the young
actress playing Lo. He had been forbidden to touch her, since the
producers were in mortal fear of being sued (according to Irons).

As for the extracts (Humbert's coming to inquire about the room and seeing
Lo for the first time), Irons as Humbert seemed to me rather intriguing;
Melanie Griffith at first sight was less than impressive as Charlotte;
and what little I saw of Dominique Swain's performance was, frankly,
dismaying. She seemed self-conscious and looked more like a young pioneer
than Nabokov's Lo. But these are only my first impressions based on three
minutes' worth of film.

The movie will probably be released here on video in the next few
months.

Peter Kartsev.