Lolita (1997 Film) - Plot

Plot

In 1947, Humbert Humbert (Jeremy Irons), a European professor of French literature, travels to the United States to take a teaching position in New Hampshire. He rents a room in the home of widow Charlotte Haze (Melanie Griffith), largely because he sees her adolescent daughter Dolores (Dominique Swain), also called "Lo", while touring the house. Obsessed from boyhood with girls of this age (whom he calls "nymphets"), partly because of a boyhood sexual experience and subsequent tragic loss, Humbert marries Charlotte for the sake of access to her daughter.

Later in their marriage, Charlotte becomes furious after she, by way of reading Humbert's secret diary, discovers Humbert's preference for her daughter. Moments after, Charlotte goes to the mailbox to mail some letters when she is struck by a car and killed. Her death frees Humbert to pursue a sexual and emotional relationship with Lo, whom he nicknames "Lolita". Humbert and Lo then travel the country, staying in various motels before eventually settling in the college town of Beardsley, where Humbert takes a teaching job. However, Lo's increasing boredom with Humbert, as well as her growing desire for independence, fuels a constant tension between them. Humbert's desperate affections for Lo are also rivaled by another man, playwright Clare Quilty (Frank Langella), who has been pursuing Lo since the beginning of their travels. Quilty's name and identity are at first unknown to Humbert, and when Lo runs away to him, Humbert's search for her is unsuccessful.

Three years later, Humbert receives a letter from Lo asking for financial help. Humbert visits Lo, who is now married to another man and pregnant. Humbert, who still loves Lo, asks her to run away with him, but she refuses. He relents and gives her a substantial amount of money and information about her inheritance from her mother. Lo also reveals to Humbert how Quilty actually tracked young girls her age and took them to Pavor Manor, his home in Parkington, to film the girls performing various sexual acts with the help of his assistant Vivian.

She also tells him about how after being taken from Humbert, Quilty tried to film Lo performing sex acts in a group setting. When Lo refuses and prefers Quilty to be like a father to her, Quilty leaves Lo on her own. After his visit with Lo, Humbert tracks down Quilty and kills him. After being chased by the police, Humbert is arrested and sent to prison. He dies in November 1950, and Lo dies on Christmas Day in childbirth.