The Case of Claus Von Bulow. An American Saga of Money and Mystery.
Overview
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.0/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.55/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 93
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Barbet Schroeder
Production
Shochiku-Fuji Company, Sovereign Pictures, Reversal Films Inc.
Cast
Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Ron Silver, Annabella Sciorra, Uta Hagen, Fisher Stevens, Jack Gilpin, Christine Baranski, Stephen Mailer, Christine Dunford, Felicity Huffman, Mano Singh, Johann Carlo, Keith Reddin, Alan Pottinger, Mitchell Whitfield, Tom Wright, Gordon Joseph Weiss, Michael Lord, LisaGay Hamilton
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, chilly legal drama with a perversely entertaining central performance from Jeremy Irons and a memorably icy Glenn Close. It’s less a whodunit than a study of wealth, image, and moral ambiguity, with Barbet Schroeder keeping the proceedings sleek and watchable even when the courtroom mechanics turn conventional.
Best for
legal drama fans
viewers who like true-crime-adjacent prestige dramas
fans of morally ambiguous characters
people who enjoy polished early-90s courtroom thrillers
Skip if
you want a fast-paced thriller
you dislike courtroom procedure and legal argument
you prefer emotionally warm or uplifting dramas
you need a straightforward, clearly sympathetic protagonist
Overview
Reversal of Fortune is one of those early-90s prestige legal dramas that feels both elegant and a little poisonous. Barbet Schroeder stages the story with a cool, controlled hand, letting the wealth and social insulation around the von Bülows feel as important as the trial itself. The movie is at its best when it treats privilege like a kind of atmosphere: expensive, suffocating, and morally evasive.
Worth noting
Jeremy Irons is the engine here, playing Claus von Bülow with a slippery, almost amused detachment that makes every scene feel like a negotiation. Glenn Close, even when immobilized, leaves a deep impression; the film understands that her presence is the case’s emotional and symbolic center. The result is less a conventional mystery than a duel over narrative control.
Bottom line
It does become more standard once the legal strategy takes over, but the performances and the tone keep it compelling. If you like courtroom dramas that are as much about class performance as evidence, this is a strong watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
David Sims (4★) · 584 likes
medium-paced early 90s legal thrillers are basically just hard drugs to me
Bobby Finger (4★) · 276 likes
Glenn’s in a coma 95% of the time, but in the 5% where she’s conscious she A) feeds a baby tiger, and B) stares into the middle distance with a cigarette in her hand while saying, “I’m thinking of redecorating this whole fucking house.”
Will Menaker (4★) · 235 likes
You're a strange man Mr. Dershowitz...
Matthew Christman (4★) · 211 likes
Cigarette-holding clinic here.
Josh Gillam (3.5★) · 113 likes
The story of Claus von Bülow (Jeremy Irons), a socialite convicted for the attempted murder of his wife Sunny (Glenn Close) and defended by lawyer Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) at his appeal, is dramatised in this mystery drama directed by Barbet Schroeder from Dershowitz’s book.
From the opening tracking shot showing rows upon rows of mansions, the themes of double standards and affluence are presented, as von Bülow is only able to get an appeal due to his wealth and… more