43 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
43 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
did claus von bulow try to kill his wife sunny in their newport mansion ?
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that is the question reversal of fortune asks you to consider as it opens in a hospital ward , with a comatose sunny von bulow .
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she is the main narrator of the film , in a narrative trick that was extraordinarily risky for schroeder .
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the dramatic trick works , as sunny von bulow narrates a compelling story of murder , sex , unhappiness , and a lawyer's moral dilemma as he takes a case he thinks he cannot win .
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jeremy irons is claus von bulow , in what is his finest role , and one of the most devastingly evil performances in history .
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he is as hated as any man alive , as cold as a cucumber .
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his remorse for his wife's comatose condition is nonexistant , and it is no wonder that even his children have difficulty accepting his version of what happened during christmas , 1980 .
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the background to the case is such .
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during christmas of 1979 , sunny von bulow fell into a deep coma from which she recovered and awoke .
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the same situation occured in 1980 , only sunny never woke , and probably never will .
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when examined , it was found that she had 14 times the normal amount of insulin within her blood .
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claus von bulow is then accused of attempted murder by his stepson , convicted , and freed on bail .
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he immediately hires alan dershowitz , the renowed harvard law professor , to acquit him .
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ron silver is magnificent as a moral lawyer who cannot stand what has happened to him .
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we follow him through two very different cases ; the case of the johnson case , where two innocent kids are standing on death row for a crime they didn't commit , and von bulow , who he still hasn't figured out .
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dershowitz doesn't know what happened to sunny , and he is extremely hesitant to take the case .
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nevertheless , he does , based on certain things which happen during the investigative process that deeply upset him .
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together with a group of law students , dershowitz concocts a defense and ultimately get the verdict reversed .
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silver's performance is one of a handful of solid roles in this deep film .
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schroeder directs on many different levels , with multiple plot lines which blend in wonderfully in the mind of alan dershowitz .
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there are flaws ; at times , the film gets overly theatrical .
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yet , due to glenn close's troubled and brutally honest performance as sunny von bulow , the use of her comatose body as a narrator works here fairly well .
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the flashbacks are good , but at times schroeder doesn't fill in the blanks .
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the movie could have benefited with the increased attention of certain developments during the film , and it could have used a better ending .
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the film progressed wonderfully before ending suddenly , without any intelligent conclusion .
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the supporting characters are often neglected , and dershowitz's team should have been allowed to grow character wise , but schroeder over-simplifies the story and the characters .
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yet , for all these flaws , the film is deeply engrossing because of irons .
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as von bulow , he is brutally evil .
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anti-semitic , prejudiced , arrogant , protective , he is a rotten , lying monster , whose conviction may have been wrong legally , but morally he was to blame .
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irons plays him to a cold perfection , with pathetic attempts to gain moral support for his claims to innocence .
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he is an adulterous liar and a cheat who in all likelihood committed the murder .
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however , the genius of reversal of fortune comes in its distinction between moral culpability and legal responsibility .
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there is no doubt von bulow is responsible for his wife's death by years of neglect and coldness .
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however , legally , did he do the murder ?
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schroeder dares the viewer to make up his own mind .
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with all the character flaws , reversal of fortune is an engrossing puzzle because it is intelligent ; he wants the viewer to make up his own mind .
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schroeder taunts the viewer with contradictory revelations , and then mentions that the answer to this compelling puzzle shall be revealed when we join sunny von bulow , in death .
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for all the failed dramatic theatrics , this is one that works beautifully .
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we don't know what happened .
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that sense of legal ambiguousness , along with von bulow's obvious moral guilt , is why reversalf fortune works .
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in the end , von bulow is as sadistic as ever .
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irons is haunting , and that is why reversal of fortune is so good .
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