Lolita 1998

In 1947, Humbert Humbert, a refined European professor of English literature, travels to the United States to take a teaching post in New Hampshire. He rents a room in the home of widow Charlotte Haze, but his stay quickly centers on a troubling fixation: her fourteen-year-old daughter Dolores, known as “Lo,” whom he spots while touring the house. Obsessed with girls of that age, Humbert is instantly taken with Lo and marries Charlotte, not for love but to stay close to her.

Charlotte discovers Humbert’s secret diary and learns that his affection lies with Lo rather than her. Enraged, she tells him she plans to leave and she exits the house, only to be struck by a car and killed. Humbert later reveals to Lo the truth about her mother’s death. This tragedy frees him to pursue a romantic and sexual relationship with Lo, whom he dubs “Lolita.” The pair roam the country, drifting from motel to motel before settling in Beardsley, a college town where Humbert takes a teaching job and Lo attends Beardsley Prep School, an all-girls Catholic school. Humbert must keep their relationship hidden from strangers they encounter and from the Beardsley administration, presenting himself to the world as a father figure and his daughter.

As time passes, Lo grows bored and yearns for independence, and their evolving dynamics fuel mounting tension. Humbert also finds himself opposed by a rival suitor, the playwright Clare Quilty, who has pursued Lo since the outset of their travels. Lo eventually escapes with Quilty, and Humbert’s search for them becomes complicated by his lack of knowledge about Quilty’s identity.

Three years later, Humbert receives a letter from Lo asking for money. He visits a now-married and pregnant Lo, whose husband Richard knows nothing of her past. Lo refuses to abandon her life but accepts a substantial sum of money from Humbert. She then reveals that Quilty had tracked young girls to Pavor Manor, his Parkington home, to exploit them, and that Quilty expelled her when she refused to participate in films with other men. She confesses that she did not want to be with anyone but Quilty, stating that “He was the only man I was ever really crazy about.”

He was the only man I was ever really crazy about.

Humbert tracks Quilty to a mansion, where Quilty lies in a drug-induced stupor. After a tense confrontation, Humbert shoots Quilty to death. Pursued by the police, Humbert is arrested and imprisoned for the murder. He dies in prison in November 1950 from a coronary thrombosis, and Lo dies the following month on Christmas Day due to complications from childbirth.