Lolita

(TriMark)

Adrian Lyne's new adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's sublime novel prompted more than a few misgivings from the theater chains -- but with Lyne's (for the most part) uncharacteristic visual restraint and inspiration, Stephen Schiff's shrewd screenplay, and solid performances headed by Jeremy Irons and newcomer Dominique Swain, this Lolita comes close to transforming the sordid case history of a fortysomething European pedant obsessed with a precocious but otherwise ordinary 12-year-old girl into a universal ode to loss and desire.