Movies Like Lolita

Frequently asked about Lolita

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• What happened to Lolita at the end of the movie?▾

  At the end of the film, Lolita has escaped from Humbert and Quilty, married a young working-class man named Dick Schiller, and is pregnant and living in poverty. After Humbert visits her and gives her money, he tracks down and kills Quilty; a closing title card reveals that Lolita died in childbirth shortly afterward.

• How old was the girl that played Lolita in the movie?▾

  Dominique Swain was 15 years old when she filmed the role of Lolita, and 16 by the time the film was released in 1997. A 19-year-old body double was used for some of the more intimate scenes.

• Why was Lolita considered unfilmable?▾

  Vladimir Nabokov's novel was considered unfilmable because its first-person narration is told from the perspective of a pedophile who sexually abuses a 12-year-old girl, making the subject matter extremely difficult to depict on screen without either glamorizing the abuse or running afoul of obscenity laws and censorship codes. Adrian Lyne's 1997 adaptation struggled for years to find a U.S. distributor for this reason.

• How old was Lolita when she died in the movie?▾

  According to the closing title card, Lolita (Dolores Haze) died in childbirth on Christmas Day 1950 at the age of 17.

• Why does Humbert marry Charlotte Haze?▾

  Humbert marries Charlotte solely to stay close to her 12-year-old daughter Dolores, whom he has become obsessed with. He has no romantic interest in Charlotte and privately fantasizes about getting rid of her so he can be alone with Lolita. His diary, in which he records his disgust for Charlotte and his lust for her daughter, is what eventually exposes him.

• How does Charlotte Haze die?▾

  After Charlotte discovers Humbert's diary and learns the truth about his feelings for Lolita and his contempt for her, she runs out of the house in hysterics to mail letters exposing him. While crossing the street in tears, she is struck and killed by a passing car. Her sudden death conveniently leaves Humbert as Lolita's sole guardian.

• Who is Clare Quilty and what is his role in the story?▾

  Clare Quilty is a famous playwright and pornographer who shadows Humbert and Lolita across their road trip, often in disguise. He eventually helps Lolita escape from Humbert at the hospital, promising her a role in films, but he later throws her out when she refuses to participate in his orgies. He represents a darker mirror of Humbert's own predation, which is why Humbert ultimately murders him..

• Why does Lolita run away from Humbert?▾

  Lolita has grown increasingly trapped, manipulated, and worn down by Humbert's jealous control and the sexual relationship he forces her to maintain. Quilty offers her what looks like an escape and a chance at a real life, so she takes it. Years later she tells Humbert plainly that Quilty was the only man she ever truly loved, even though he too exploited her.

• What is the meaning of the film's framing device with Humbert driving and the gun?▾

  The film opens and closes with a bloodied, dazed Humbert weaving down a country road after killing Quilty, and his narration is delivered as a confession from this final drive. This structure makes the entire story a memory recounted by a doomed man, framing his account as self-serving romanticism that the audience is meant to see through. The closing title cards, revealing that both Humbert and Lolita die soon after, underline that his obsession destroyed everyone it touched.