There are two versions of the film ‘Lolita’ that I am aware of, a 1962 version with ‘James Mason’ as the lead, directed by ‘Stanley Kubrick’ and the 1997 version with ‘Jeremy Irons’, directed by ‘Adrian Lyne’.

Having not read the book myself, but have plans to at a later stage, I can’t comment on fully on what the author’s intentions were and the emotions he hoped to evoke in readers, however, there were a number of similar aspects to both films which was comforting, but also stark contrast in the development of the relationship between the two main characters ‘Dolores ‘Lolita’ Haze’ and ‘Prof. Humbert Humbert.’

The brief synopsis of both films is that Prof Humbert Humbert travels to the USA to take a teaching position. He meets Dolores, a 14 year old girl, when he rents a room from her mother, Charlotte and eventually marries Charlotte to gain access to Dolores with whom he is sexually attracted to and over time a relationship develops.

Now here’s where the difference lies. In Stanley Kubrick’s film the nature of the relationship between Dolores and Humbert isn’t explicit and more subtle in its references than that of Adrian Lyne’s film, which disregards controversy and gets right to the point.

After watching both I browsed around for more information and learned that Kubrick’s version of the film was severely censored and has been quoted saying that had he known this would be the case, he would never have made the film in the first place.

“Because of all the pressure over the Production Code and the Catholic Legion of Decency at the time, I believe I didn't sufficiently dramatize the erotic aspect of Humbert's relationship with Lolita. If I could do the film over again, I would have stressed the erotic component of their relationship with the same weight Nabokov did.” – Stanley Kubrick.

From reviews it’s said that neither film accurately captures the so-called beauty of the prose nor the true intentions of the author, so I guess I will have to find out for myself.