90’s Lolitas Volume 2: Adrian Lyne’s Lolita (Erotic 90’s, Part 18)

In the previous decade, Adrian Lyne had made two movies (Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal) that had grossed over $100 million in the US alone. With carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, he made an adaptation of the Nabokov novel about a 40-year-old pedophile’s obsession with his adolescent step-daughter – and no distributor wanted to release it. In a decade rife with the commodification and sexualization of young teens (see our previous episode on Drew Barrymore), what lines did Lyne’s Lolita cross?

(00:00) Adrian Lyne Struggles To Get Lolita Made

(20:21) Casting Dominique Swain 

(29:35) The Problems of Adapting Lolita

(39:32) Press Coverage and More Problems

(47:58) Response and Distribution Difficulties

(58:54) “Criminal”, Kids, and Complexity