HIDDEN MESSAGE OF LOLITA'S ENDING
Kubrick's Lolita has a hidden genius ending that highly contrasts the appeared ending. The ending of Lolita appears to be the same beginning scene of Humbert killing Quilty but ending with a cut after Humbert calls for Quilty's name. However, the hidden fact is that the beginning scene and the ending scene are not the same. The two scenes were filmed differently, watch the film again if you are not convinced. Kubrick could have easily copied and pasted the beginning scene to the end and cut it when Humbert calls for Quilty's name, but he doesn't. Kubrick uses two different scenes to show one dream and one reality. The beginning scene of Humbert killing Quilty is a future dream of Humbert's and the ending scene is the reality. The ending leaves Humbert without Lolita and without finding Quilty. It is deeply beautiful. My explanation to why Humbert was dreaming in the beginning scene is below.
If you analyze the film, you will see Humbert basically act the same scene out but in reality he doesn't. In the ending scene the chair Quilty was sitting in is covered in a different fashion, he doesn't string the harp and he calls out Quilty's name at different timings. First, the covering of the chair is significant because the beginning scene can clearly make out a body and also has a beer bottle resting on the Quilty’s head. In contrast, the ending scene has a sheet on the chair that can not clearly make out an entire body and has a beer bottle resting at the lap of the chair. This shows that Quilty was not present at the end, which is supported by the beer bottle clearly showing Quilty's body. Second, the stringing of the harp in the beginning scene, in comparison with not stringing it in the end, hints that Humbert is in a dream. Third, the difference in the timing of the shot is significant because Kubrick carefully edits the ending frame so that Humbert is covering up the chair Quility is supposed to be sitting in and fades out the film to an end. This is significant because Kubrick is trying to subliminally show the audience that Humbert did not find Quilty.
The epilogue does say Humbert dies during the trial of his murder of Quilty, but I believe Kubrick puts that in there to misdirect the audience to the actual ending. He is a genius. The epilogue is read over the shot painting that he supposedly shot Quilty through. This is really important because the same painting was shown in both the beginning and ending scene as Humbert enters the house. Also the painting represents Lolita who is a liar and Kubrick is trying to tell the intelligent audience that he is lying about Humbert killing Quilty. In addition, the beginning scene is followed by Humbert narrating, showing the beginning of reality. The ending scene leaves Humbert calling for Quilty but getting no response, showing that he did not end up finding Quilt and obviously did not end up with Lolita.