Lolita

Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film follows a middle-aged literature teacher obsessed with a girl. He marries her mother in order to get close to her. The narrator makes his own crime sound beautiful. Because of the censorship of the period the film implies most of it; that indirectness drew criticism for lightening the weight of the abuse. It is adapted from Vladimir Nabokov's novel. James Mason leads. Peter Sellers took a second role. Who it's for: those studying the history of cinema. Who it's not for: almost anyone; the subject is an adult's sexual abuse of a child, told in that adult's voice.