Nicol Williamson, Anna Karina and Jean-Claude Drouot star in Tony Richardson's bold adaptation of the Nabokov novel. Updated to 1969 London from pre-Hitler Germany of the early '30s, it's the story of a successful art dealer (Williamson) who becomes so enamored with a degenerate usherette/grifter (Karina) that he literally destroys his life. He loses his wife, his daughter, his job and his eyesight. It's not an easy movie to watch much less enjoy. Williamson, in a role meant for and started by Richard Burton, gives a great performance, playing an even more obsessive Humbert Humbert. Drouot is excellent as the malevolent artist/gigolo who is Karina's real love. The casting of Karina is a bit odd and her dubbing is even odder. Nevertheless she successfully conveys pure evil. Siân Phillips is Williamson's no-nonsense wife. This all may be bold, but it leaves the viewer asking "so what?" Any allegory infused by Nabokov relating to the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis is obliterated by Richardson's choice of setting this in modern day England.
Review of Laughter in the Dark
