A 1997 film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Stephen Schiff. The movie is a retelling of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. The story follows Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged literature professor, who becomes infatuated with the 14 year old Dolores Haze, or as he affectionately calls “Lolita”. Humbert moves to a small town and rents a room in Charlotte Haze’s house, Lolita’s mother. In an attempt to stay in her daughter’s life Humbert marries Charlotte, but after her accidental death, Humbert takes custody of Lolita and embarks on a cross country road trip with her. Humbert’s infatuation and obsession for Lolita grows and he begins to sexually abuse her while taking a fatherly role in her life simultaneously. In this adaptation of the novel, Jeremy Irons takes on the role of Humbert Humbert, a part he was initially hesitant to accept. Irons grappled with the decision, concerned about the potential for being perceived as “politically incorrect”. His close friend Glenn Close points out his success and how he has worked with fantastic directors, scripts, and roles and that this one was not different from the rest- so why was he saying no? Irons took the role and his goal was to portray a Humbert that had remained “sexually immature” rather than became a “dirty uncle”. Humbert’s obsession with Lolita is depicted as a romantic and youthful love in the movie, mirroring Nabokov’s novel. Nabokov’s son, Dimitri, remarked that this adaptation aligns more closely with his father’s vision and would have pleased him, unlike Kubrick’s film, which he found deeply disappointing. I personally also prefer this movie because it is more akin to the novel. It presents the viewer with a difficulty of how to feel about the main character Humbert, because he is obviously in love with Lolita romantically and sexually abuses her but he also cares for her and loves her as a father figure as well. I think that both the novel and movie challenge the audience on topics such as love and desire, that are seen as very “black and white” when there is a lot of moral ambiguity surrounding them.