Movies We Like
Reversal of Fortune
Dir: Barbet Schroeder, 1990. Starring: Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Ron Silver. Drama.
For any lawyer wannabes, Reversal of Fortune works as a thrilling look at how you build a legal case and, at the same time, it’s a fascinating and often darkly humorous peek into the bizarre world of the Waspy jet set scene. And it’s all apparently a true story, based on the book by lawyer and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz (played by Ron Silver) who documented his work on the acquittal case of the creepy rich slime bag Claus von Bulow (Jeremy Irons). Claus was originally found guilty in the attempted murder of his drug addicted heiress wife, Sunny (Glenn Close). For actors Irons and Silver Reversal of Fortune provided them with the best performances of their careers. (Irons won a well-deserved Oscar for his brilliant work, though truthfully it was a weak year.) For Iranian-born director Barbet Schroeder, who originally made his mark in French cinema, it’s his best English language non-documentary film (with Barfly being a close second).
Showing his ultimate admiration for the legal system, attorney Dershowitz comes off as very compelling and very righteous (in real life, he has since become a high profile celebrity ambulance-chaser and staunch anti-Palestinian bulldog). He explains to his team, made up of current and ex-students, including his ex-girlfriend (Annabella Sciorra), his reasons for agreeing to defend someone as unlikable as von Bulow by reasoning that even rich people deserve fair trials. Also, his high fees will pay for their more sympathetic pro bono cases.
The story is told in flashbacks from the mind of Sunny von Bulow as she lies in a coma, revealing how she came to be there. Both with children from previous marriages, she and Claus found each other late in life. Even when she was conscious, she was only half alive, usually zonked out on pills and leaving her bed only to smoke and eat. Eventually she went to sleep and never woke up. Claus was accused by the maid and her children of injecting her with insulin; he was charged and found guilty. Meanwhile, in between backyard basketball and ping-pong games, Dershowitz and his team work out of his home, diligently poking holes in the state’s case. The movie’s best moments are when they all sit around and debate the trial amongst each other. In maybe the most memorable scene the highly mannered von Bulow joins them in a Chinese restaurant as they bombard him with questions. He asks, “Alan, do they all want to be prosecutors?”
A sometimes dull actor (Dead Ringers had always been the exception), Irons seems to be having the time of his life with the role. Claus is continuously unpredictable, with his odd speech patterns and the weirdness of his cool high society world. Though he desperately vows his innocence, he can’t help but play up his macabre reputation (rumor had it he killed his own mother and aunt as a boy in Europe). When Dershowitz, mouth agape, says to him, “you’re a very strange man,” Claus responds, straight-faced, “you have no idea.”
Glenn Close, in what is essentially a supporting role, adds another notch on her acting belt as well, showing why she was one of her generation’s best actresses (maybe just second to Meryl Streep).
Dershowitz is the role Silver seemed born to play. Though he had dozens and dozens of film and TV credits, before his death in ’09, Silver was more respected for his stage work (Hurlyburly, Speed the Plow, etc). Though he had a career-defining role in Enemies: A Love Story and played a good bad guy in the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Timecop, nothing was as memorable for him as Reversal of Fortune. The high-minded Dershowitz’s Jewishness is constantly pointed out by these arrogant Wasps. Claus, upon first meeting him, tells him of his high regard for the Jewish people. And with a great line, Claus’s girlfriend (the funny Christine Baranski) brags when he was looking for a lawyer she told him to “get the Jew!”
What could have felt like another media inspired TV-movie in hindsight is one the more memorable films of the ‘90s. With endlessly quotable dialogue and great performances Reversal of Fortune is pure entertainment. Though tragic and maybe even sad, Schroeder and screenwriter Nicholas Kazen (At Close Range) give the film a gleefully mischievous tone. It’s naughty, dark stuff but still an absolute blast.
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Reversal of Fortune won an Academy Award for Best Actor (Jeremy Irons) and was nominated for Best Director (Barbet Schroeder) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Nicholas Kazan).
Showing his ultimate admiration for the legal system, attorney Dershowitz comes off as very compelling and very righteous (in real life, he has since become a high profile celebrity ambulance-chaser and staunch anti-Palestinian bulldog). He explains to his team, made up of current and ex-students, including his ex-girlfriend (Annabella Sciorra), his reasons for agreeing to defend someone as unlikable as von Bulow by reasoning that even rich people deserve fair trials. Also, his high fees will pay for their more sympathetic pro bono cases.
The story is told in flashbacks from the mind of Sunny von Bulow as she lies in a coma, revealing how she came to be there. Both with children from previous marriages, she and Claus found each other late in life. Even when she was conscious, she was only half alive, usually zonked out on pills and leaving her bed only to smoke and eat. Eventually she went to sleep and never woke up. Claus was accused by the maid and her children of injecting her with insulin; he was charged and found guilty. Meanwhile, in between backyard basketball and ping-pong games, Dershowitz and his team work out of his home, diligently poking holes in the state’s case. The movie’s best moments are when they all sit around and debate the trial amongst each other. In maybe the most memorable scene the highly mannered von Bulow joins them in a Chinese restaurant as they bombard him with questions. He asks, “Alan, do they all want to be prosecutors?”
A sometimes dull actor (Dead Ringers had always been the exception), Irons seems to be having the time of his life with the role. Claus is continuously unpredictable, with his odd speech patterns and the weirdness of his cool high society world. Though he desperately vows his innocence, he can’t help but play up his macabre reputation (rumor had it he killed his own mother and aunt as a boy in Europe). When Dershowitz, mouth agape, says to him, “you’re a very strange man,” Claus responds, straight-faced, “you have no idea.”
Glenn Close, in what is essentially a supporting role, adds another notch on her acting belt as well, showing why she was one of her generation’s best actresses (maybe just second to Meryl Streep).
Dershowitz is the role Silver seemed born to play. Though he had dozens and dozens of film and TV credits, before his death in ’09, Silver was more respected for his stage work (Hurlyburly, Speed the Plow, etc). Though he had a career-defining role in Enemies: A Love Story and played a good bad guy in the Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Timecop, nothing was as memorable for him as Reversal of Fortune. The high-minded Dershowitz’s Jewishness is constantly pointed out by these arrogant Wasps. Claus, upon first meeting him, tells him of his high regard for the Jewish people. And with a great line, Claus’s girlfriend (the funny Christine Baranski) brags when he was looking for a lawyer she told him to “get the Jew!”
What could have felt like another media inspired TV-movie in hindsight is one the more memorable films of the ‘90s. With endlessly quotable dialogue and great performances Reversal of Fortune is pure entertainment. Though tragic and maybe even sad, Schroeder and screenwriter Nicholas Kazen (At Close Range) give the film a gleefully mischievous tone. It’s naughty, dark stuff but still an absolute blast.
__________________________
Reversal of Fortune won an Academy Award for Best Actor (Jeremy Irons) and was nominated for Best Director (Barbet Schroeder) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Nicholas Kazan).
Posted by:
Sean Sweeney
Aug 31, 2011 6:23pm
