Reversal of Fortune (Widescreen)

 

 

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In murder mysteries, there's usually a Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Adrian Monk or even a Shawn Spencer standing by to solve everything.

However, real life isn't so tidy. And nothing was tidy in the widely-publicized incident where socialite Sunny von Bülow lapsed into a coma, with her husband as the only suspect. "Reversal of Fortune" quietly chronicles a real-life murder investigation and trial, while avoiding melodrama and theatrics -- or assumptions about what really happened.

On December 21 1980, Sunny von Bülow (Glenn Close) was found unconscious on her bathroom floor, and remained in a vegetative coma until her death almost exactly twenty-eight years later. Her suspicious children Alex and Ala began a private investigation, and soon Sunny's estranged husband Claus (Jeremy Irons) was accused of having tried to kill her twice. He was tried and convicted.

Meanwhile, lawyer Alan Dershowitz is struggling to help a pair of young men on death row when he's unexpectedly contacted by Claus, who wants Dershowitz to take on his case. With a small army of young law students, Alan starts investigating a murder case that may not have been a murder, with a client whom the American people have already decided is guilty. But there are clues and questions that may never be answered.

"Reversal of Fortune" is a very rare movie about murder investigations and legal cases, because it's remarkably realistic. It answers no questions about what happened to Sunny -- was it murder, suicide or a freak accident? -- and there are no big dramatic courtroom showdowns or dramatic clue-finds like there are on TV.

Instead, "Reversal of Fortune" glides through on everything that really HAPPENED, and on the genuine grueling process of puncturing a seemingly airtight case. We follow Dershowitz as he and his team sift through the evidence and testimonies, and while it lacks the thrills of the usual TV mysteries, it's all the more fascinating because there are no easy answers or innocent people.

And lest we get bored there are frequent flashbacks to Sunny and Claus's marriage. Some are told by Claus, some by court testimony, and some by Sunny herself (often seen curled and corpselike in her hospital bed, getting sponge-baths and hooked up to an IV).

Pretty much everybody in this movie does an excellent job. The real standout here is Jeremy Irons, who plays the "Eurotrash gold-digger" to charming erudite perfection -- you can never tell if Claus is a cold-blooded sociopath, or a sleek charmer with a sick sense of humor. Glenn Close also does a good job both as the neurotic, rather childish Sunny and the comatose woman looking back on her life.

"Reversal of Fortune" avoids the tropes of most movies about criminal investigations -- this is a tasteful, intricate look at a real-life court war. Watch it at least twice to absorb its quality.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE is a movie about Alan Dershowitz's legal defense of the aristocratic Claus Von Bulow who is accused of trying to kill his wealthy wife Sunny. It is an interesting movie in that much is learned about the preparation done by Dershowitz and his staff. If you are a fan of such matters you may also find the film to be quite entertaining. The glimpses, however, into the personal lives of Claus and Sunny are sometimes very depressing.

The acting by Ron Silver as Dershowitz and Jeremy Irons as Claus Von Bulow is excellent. The strong supporting cast includes Glenn Close, Annabella Sciorra and Uta Hagen.

Barbet Schroeder also directed GENERAL IDI AMIN DADA and BARFLY.

Striking, if sometimes creepy, performances by Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons highlight this unevenly directed take on the Claus Von Bulow story of the degenerate rich adapted from the book by Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz, who loves being in the limelight almost as much as he loves the law, took on the task of saving Claus Von Bulow from prison for the attempted murder of his rich wife initially as a means of raising money to help him in his pro bono cases. The rather heavy-handed manner in which we are advised of this should not detract from Dershowitz's work. The irony is that as the case developed Dershowitz became persuaded that Claus was innocent.

Whether Dershowitz convinced himself of Von Bulow's innocence to assuage a possibly guilty conscience is a good question. Remember Dershowitz is the guy who said after the O.J. Simpson trial (he was one of Simpson's lawyers) that he didn't know whether Simpson was guilty or not. While that may be a good stance for a defense attorney, it is an insincere one for the public figure that Dershowitz has become.

Starring as Dershowitz is Ron Silver in an uneven performance that at times made me think of Gabe Kaplan doing a young and uncomedic Groucho Marx. I wonder if Dershowitz was entirely flattered.

Director Barbet Schroeder (Barfly 1987; Single White Female 1992) uses several points of view to tell the story, including a voice-over from Glenn Close's Sunny Von Bulow as she lies comatose, but also from recollections by Jeremy Irons' Claus Von Bulow. We see some scenes twice, colored by the differing points of view. This technique is entirely appropriate since what really happened is far from clear to this day. It is Claus Von Bulow's fortune that was reversed. Whether the first two juries or the third were right is something Schroeder leaves for the audience to determine.

But make no mistake about it: the heart of the movie is Jeremy Irons' Oscar-winning performance. His subtle artistry based on a deep conception (true to life or not) of the aristocratic and Germanic Claus allowed him to create a persona that is cold and aloft, yet somehow sympathetic. The contrast with Silver's Brooklyn-born hyper-energetic Dershowitz made for some good cinematic chemistry, although sometimes it came across like nice Jewish boy defends a vampire.

Glenn Close's flawless rendition of the idle, drug-befouled Sunny reminds us once again that she is a great actress. Unfortunately I don't think Schroeder spent as much time and energy as he should have with the people who played Dershowitz's law students. They seemed amateurish and unconvincing in just about every scene. And there were too many of them--law students, that is. Some distillation of intent, and more directorial guidance might have helped.

Nicholas Kazan's script has a number of good lines in it, not the least of which is this: Dershowitz: "You are a very strange man." Claus Von Bulow: "You have no idea." Also nice was Von Bulow's observation after they are seated in the restaurant and after the waiter has called him "Doctor" Von Bulow: "When I was married to Sunny, we never got this table. Now, two injections of insulin and I'm a doctor." Indeed it is partly Kazan's snappy, comedic and self-revelatory lines that humanize Claus Von Bulow's character and persuade us that he could very well be innocent.

While I like Dershowitz's self-serving style and his confidence, what I admire most about the man is his realistic conception of the defense attorney's role in our society and his idea of what makes a good lawyer; that is, a good lawyer is one who recognizes not only that every person deserves the best defense their resources allow, but that he himself deserves to defend those with the best resources.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional drama of a legal defense
The murder of Sunny von Bulow (played by Glenn Close)was one of the most publicized murder cases of the 80s. Read more

Published on Jun 12 2004 by David Bonesteel

5.0 out of 5 stars Coma
Audacious, brilliant, cerebral yet firmly grounded in the stuff of life, Barbet Schroeder's "Reversal of Fortune" is as much a winner now as it was when it was first... Read more

Published on April 18 2004 by MICHAEL ACUNA

4.0 out of 5 stars Jeremy Irons Great Villain[?]
Had occasion to see this terrific legal docu-drama again after 15 years and marveled at the performance of Jeremy Irons as convicted would-be-murderer Klaus Von Bulow. Read more

Published on Jan 17 2004 by J. Hardy IV

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Law Movie
I liked this movie, my favorite character was Jeremy Irons as Claus Von Bulow. Its amazing that he could talk like that through the whole movie (German Accent). Read more

Published on July 12 2003 by R. S. Ali

5.0 out of 5 stars A treat but you decide on the consequence
I confess ignorance about the supposedly real world trial of Claus von Bulow (charged with the attempted murder of his socialite wife) that this movie is based on. Read more

Published on May 17 2003 by Shashank Tripathi

4.0 out of 5 stars Where's the White Hat?
Could you enjoy a movie in which there was no "good guy" or similar person to root for? Have you ever wondered why Claus von Bulow was eventually cleared of charges after the... Read more

Published on April 27 2003 by Randy Keehn

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspense worthy of Hitchcock even though you know the ending
This film is far more than just the salacious filmed version of the tabloid scandal documenting Claus von Bulow's conviction and appeal on charges of twice attempting to murder... Read more

Published on Mar 18 2003 by bensmomma

3.0 out of 5 stars Unsettling, Macabre and Devilishly Captivating
Did Claus Von Bulow (Jeremy Irons) really try to kill his wife, Sunny (Glenn Close)twice? To this day, the heiress to a small fortune remains a prisoner of her own body, suspended... Read more

Published on Mar 7 2003 by Nix Pix

5.0 out of 5 stars NEEDLEPOINT...........
OH, just a delicious little bon-bon of a dark, glossy comedy about the Rich and Famous - East Coast style! Read more

Published on Jun 26 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Better than I Remember....
...remember in the movie "Some Like It Hot" when Jack Lemmon was confronting Tony Curtis for fooling "Sugar" Marilyn Monroe with
his Shell Oil Millionaire schtick? Read more

Published on April 25 2002 by yygsgsdrassil

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