In 1995, at the age of 15, Swain was chosen from 2,500 girls to play the title role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze in Adrian Lyne's controversial screen adaptation of the 1955 novel, Lolita.[2] Released in 1997, the film earned positive reviews from critics with New York Magazine calling it "superior" to the Stanley Kubrick version from 1962,[3] and Caryn James of The New York Times writing that Swain's performance was "extraordinary," adding:
She is within sight of womanhood yet remains, definitely, a schoolgirl... Ms. Swain walks this incredibly narrow line between innocent playfulness and adult knowledge without a misstep.[4]
Also in 1997, Swain appeared as John Travolta's rebellious teenage daughter, Jamie, in John Woo's commercially successful action thriller Face/Off,[5] with a positive review from Entertainment Weekly highlighting her chemistry with Travolta.[6] Next, she headlined the 1998 drama Girl, in which she portrayed a high-schooler determined to lose her virginity. Writing for Variety, critic David Stratton called it a "well-cast, modestly effective pic" with "a bright, intelligent performance" by Swain.[7]
Speaking of finding it hard to secure roles in the wake of Lolita, a matter she attributed to typecasting, Swain later commented, "I turned down stuff specifically because of nudity, because it doesn't take a whole lot of class to yank your clothes off... I had a body double in Lolita [so] I think the goal was 'Let's see what she really looks like.' They were sending me scripts with no substance to them."[2]
In 2007, Swain headlined the supernatural horror film Dead Mary, which Fangoria felt was successful in setting itself apart from other entries in the genre.[12] Her performance in the 2010 thriller Road to Nowherewas lauded,[13] which Kevin Thomas described as a "stylish, shimmering neo-noir" in his review for the Los Angeles Times.[14]
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