Film Review: Reversal of Fortune (1990)

The crime that is easily filmable and in which Hollywood is interested is of blue collar variety. Consequently, most Hollywood crime stories, if they are to be realistic, are likely to be set in lower class milieu. There are, however, exceptions to the rule and high profile crimes can actually happen within upper strata of society, like in the real life case that was depicted in Reversal of Fortune, 1990 drama directed by Barbet Schroeder.

The script by Nick Kazan is based on the eponymous book by Allan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor and defence attorney who gained fame and infamy for his role in high profile trials involving people like Harry Reems, Mike Tyson, O. J. Simpson and Donald Trump. Dershowitz, who is in the film played by Ron Silver, is asked to represent another celebrity client. The case began in 1980 when rich heiress Sunny von Bülow (played by Glenn Close) fell into diabetic shock and ended in coma where she would spend the rest of the life. Authorities, based on circumstantial evidence and accusation by Sunny’s children, conclude that the event was deliberately caused by her husband, Danish aristocrat Claus von Bülow (played by Jeremy Irons). He is indicted for attempted murder and has everything that can go against him at the trial, including damning testimonies of Sunny’s loyal maid Maria (played by Uta Hagen) and even his young and beautiful mistress Alexandra Isles (played by Julie Haggerty), and gets sentenced to thirty years in prison. Dershowitz very reluctantly decides to represent Claus von Bülow on appeal, initially finding him cold, arrogant and unsympathetic. However, he also concludes that his client’s rights were breeched and gathers team of his students that would research every aspect of the case with the hope of winning a new trial.

French director Barbet Schroeder apparently isn’t that interested in legal details of the story as much as the opportunity to experiment with style and approach the plot in an original way. One such decision, inspired with the beginning of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, is to have the film occasionally narrated by Sunny in her vegetative state. Her character “on the other side” keeps reminding the audience that what really happened to her would remain permanent; Schroeder and Kazan relish in such ambiguity, leaving the audience to discover the answer for themselves. Schroeder also uses this story as an opportunity to provide some sort of mild social commentary and underline deep class within American society. This is seen from the very beginning, when opening titles consist of aerial shots of Newport, Rhode Island featuring large mansions belonging to ultra-wealthy people like von Bülows; later, when the action takes place in interior of such mansions, they are depicted as seemingly luxurious, but those large rooms are cold and unpleasant place where people like Sunny can live deeply miserable lives, beset with alcoholism, pill-popping and despair over spouse’s infidelity. Schroeder, on the other hand, depicts home of Professor Dershowitz as clearly belonging to middle class but where he can nevertheless treat students like members of his own family and happily mingle with them over dinner. Although based on Dershowitz’s book and, as a result, not particularly objective, the film depicts how famed legal scholar tries to justify his representation of seemingly reprehensible aristocrat with the idea that his legal fees would help him in pro bono defence of two black youths at death row; Dershowitz only gradually comes to conclusion that his client is actually innocent, despite von Bülow obviously enjoying his notoriety and even joking with possibility that he is actually guilty.

Ron Silver did very good job in his role, but he was more than overshadowed by Jeremy Irons, who was brilliant in the role of von Bülow. Irons portrays him as cold, arrogant man who nevertheless hides his vulnerability with gallows humour and even adds

The crime that is easily filmable and in which Hollywood is interested is of blue collar variety. Consequently, most Hollywood crime stories, if they are to be realistic, are likely to be set in lower class milieu. There are, however, exceptions to the rule and high profile crimes can actually happen within upper strata of society, like in the real life case that was depicted in Reversal of Fortune, 1990 drama directed by Barbet Schroeder.

The script by Nick Kazan is based on the eponymous book by Allan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor and defence attorney who gained fame and infamy for his role in high profile trials involving people like Harry Reems, Mike Tyson, O. J. Simpson and Donald Trump. Dershowitz, who is in the film played by Ron Silver, is asked to represent another celebrity client. The case began in 1980 when rich heiress Sunny von Bülow (played by Glenn Close) fell into diabetic shock and ended in coma where she would spend the rest of the life. Authorities, based on circumstantial evidence and accusation by Sunny’s children, conclude that the event was deliberately caused by her husband, Danish aristocrat Claus von Bülow (played by Jeremy Irons). He is indicted for attempted murder and has everything that can go against him at the trial, including damning testimonies of Sunny’s loyal maid Maria (played by Uta Hagen) and even his young and beautiful mistress Alexandra Isles (played by Julie Haggerty), and gets sentenced to thirty years in prison. Dershowitz very reluctantly decides to represent Claus von Bülow on appeal, initially finding him cold, arrogant and unsympathetic. However, he also concludes that his client’s rights were breeched and gathers team of his students that would research every aspect of the case with the hope of winning a new trial.

French director Barbet Schroeder apparently isn’t that interested in legal details of the story as much as the opportunity to experiment with style and approach the plot in an original way. One such decision, inspired with the beginning of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, is to have the film occasionally narrated by Sunny in her vegetative state. Her character “on the other side” keeps reminding the audience that what really happened to her would remain permanent; Schroeder and Kazan relish in such ambiguity, leaving the audience to discover the answer for themselves. Schroeder also uses this story as an opportunity to provide some sort of mild social commentary and underline deep class within American society. This is seen from the very beginning, when opening titles consist of aerial shots of Newport, Rhode Island featuring large mansions belonging to ultra-wealthy people like von Bülows; later, when the action takes place in interior of such mansions, they are depicted as seemingly luxurious, but those large rooms are cold and unpleasant place where people like Sunny can live deeply miserable lives, beset with alcoholism, pill-popping and despair over spouse’s infidelity. Schroeder, on the other hand, depicts home of Professor Dershowitz as clearly belonging to middle class but where he can nevertheless treat students like members of his own family and happily mingle with them over dinner. Although based on Dershowitz’s book and, as a result, not particularly objective, the film depicts how famed legal scholar tries to justify his representation of seemingly reprehensible aristocrat with the idea that his legal fees would help him in pro bono defence of two black youths at death row; Dershowitz only gradually comes to conclusion that his client is actually innocent, despite von Bülow obviously enjoying his notoriety and even joking with possibility that he is actually guilty.

Ron Silver did very good job in his role, but he was more than overshadowed by Jeremy Irons, who was brilliant in the role of von Bülow. Irons portrays him as cold, arrogant man who nevertheless hides his vulnerability with gallows humour and even adds