Reversal of Fortune | | Cast : | Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons | | Director : | Barbet Schroeder | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October , 1990 | | DVD Released Date : | March 13, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 14, 2005 | | Summary | That Damn Encrusted Needle | Content
 | I do not remember the Von Buelow case as I hadn't been born yet. However, the psychologist who worked with the Dershowitz team (T.S.) is a family friend and I have heard him talk about the case several times. Many people close to the investigation believe Von Buelow was framed for a crime a he probaly did commit. Thus, because of the tampering with evidence by a special prosecuter hired by the state, Von Buelow was likely over-charged, or undercharged, and was found not guilty because of the tampering. For example; if two guys get into a fight in a bar, and one gets hurt a little more than the other, should the lucky one be charged with Battery, Assault, or Attempted Murder? In this state, Battery is 0 - 1 year, Assault is 2-10 years, and Attempted Murder is 20-life. Quite a difference. From that perspective, who could not receive a fair trial no matter what. When the defense learned that the needle apparently used to deliver the insulin was encrusted with evaporated water this was seen as a huge flaw in the governments case as the victims skin would have removed the water when the needle was withdrawn. That is, the skin would tighten around the needle, and wipe the needle point clean. As portrayed by Jeremy Irons (Best Actor) in his role as Von Buelow, the most striking evidence against Von Buelow, was Von Buelow himself. Many of Dershowitz's students expressed personal outrage Dershowitz would even consider championing the appeal. Von Buelow made up funny jokes about his wife's condition making it harder and harder to represent him. But this film sure does have class. Jeremy Irons, as Von Buelow, delivers a performance so good, that it's worth the price of admission just to see the master actor at work. Ron Silver fills the role of the complicated Dershowitz with equal care. Best Picture of'89 (?), Reversal of Fortune keeps viewers even unfamiliar with the case glued to the story until it's inlikely end. Direction is also outstanding. A true classic. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 30, 2005 | | Summary | "My lady is not diabetic!" | Content
| This might have been a very run-of-the-mill movie-of-the-week about drugs and attempted murder among the very wealthy, but Barbet Schroeder and Nicholas Kazan made this story of the circumstances surrounding the mysterious coma of cereal heiress Sunny von Bulow in 1979 almost a masterpiece. With its astonishingly complex narrative structure, its pitch-black humor, its superb performances and its detailings of utter misery and despair among the lives of America's wealthiest people, the film is reminiscent in some ways of CITIZEN KANE, and when the film is at its very best (particularly when Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons are onscreen as Sunny and Claus von Bulow), the comparisons to the latter sequences in the Welles film when Charlie Kane and Susan Alexander square off in misery in Kane's Florida mansion seem most apt. Irons won an Oscar for his exceptionally funny performance as the perverse Claus, but Close may deserve the true acting honors for making Sunny's gilded hell seem so real. There are also superb supporting performances, particularly from Uta Hagen as Sunny's devoted maid and Christine Baranski as Claus's sinister girlfriend. Only the frame plot involving Ron Silver as Claus's appeals attorney Alan Dershowitz seems weak--in part because since Dershowitz's own son was a producer, and Dershowitz himself had input into the script, his character seems unrealistically sanctified. (His character is treated basically as a paragon of both humanitarianism and liberalism.) But the weak stuff with Dershowtiz and his legal hotshots is easily put aside when you get to such moments of camp genius as Close's Sunny (in a cashmere twinset and sunglasses, while holding a cigarette) eating an enormous hot fudge sundae at the dinner table while her children look on in mute horror. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 04, 2004 | | Summary | Aside from Jeremy Irons, Laughably Bad Acting | Content
| Am I the only one who thinks that Ron Silver and everyone else in this picture--with the exception of Jeremy Irons--is terrible?
Admittedly, the parts are poorly written, but the director let these actors ham it up so badly it ruins the film. The self-righteous liberal (and I am one!) characters--especially the law students (gag!)--are such obvious caricatures I felt embarrassed for them.
Of course, Glenn Close is her usual "Look at me, I'm acting" self.
Terrible!
Without Irons, this film is a flop. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 25, 2004 | | Summary | good film | Content
| I hadn't seen this film in years&I was reminded of how well the acting&Direction was in this Project.Jeremy Irons was on point He truly made the film with His strong performance from start to finish.it was a real cliff hanger&treat. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 12, 2004 | | Summary | Exceptional drama of a legal defense | Content
| The murder of Sunny von Bulow (played by Glenn Close)was one of the most publicized murder cases of the 80s. This film tells the story of how well-known lawyer Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) reversed the guilty verdict of accused murderer Klaus von Bulow (Jeremy Irons), Sunny's husband. This film walks a tightrope between a dramatization of the facts in the case and an account that presumes to know what really occurred, so that by the end of the film, we still do not know who, if anyone, committed the murder. The film is filled with great performances. Irons won a best-actor Oscar for his role. Silver's Dershowitz is impassioned and driven. |
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