did claus von bulow try to kill his wife sunny in their newport mansion ? 
that is the question reversal of fortune asks you to consider as it opens in a hospital ward , with a comatose sunny von bulow . 
she is the main narrator of the film , in a narrative trick that was extraordinarily risky for schroeder . 
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 . 
jeremy irons is claus von bulow , in what is his finest role , and one of the most devastingly evil performances in history . 
he is as hated as any man alive , as cold as a cucumber . 
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 . 
the background to the case is such . 
during christmas of 1979 , sunny von bulow fell into a deep coma from which she recovered and awoke . 
the same situation occured in 1980 , only sunny never woke , and probably never will . 
when examined , it was found that she had 14 times the normal amount of insulin within her blood . 
claus von bulow is then accused of attempted murder by his stepson , convicted , and freed on bail . 
he immediately hires alan dershowitz , the renowed harvard law professor , to acquit him . 
ron silver is magnificent as a moral lawyer who cannot stand what has happened to him . 
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 . 
dershowitz doesn't know what happened to sunny , and he is extremely hesitant to take the case . 
nevertheless , he does , based on certain things which happen during the investigative process that deeply upset him . 
together with a group of law students , dershowitz concocts a defense and ultimately get the verdict reversed . 
silver's performance is one of a handful of solid roles in this deep film . 
schroeder directs on many different levels , with multiple plot lines which blend in wonderfully in the mind of alan dershowitz . 
there are flaws ; at times , the film gets overly theatrical . 
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 . 
the flashbacks are good , but at times schroeder doesn't fill in the blanks . 
the movie could have benefited with the increased attention of certain developments during the film , and it could have used a better ending . 
the film progressed wonderfully before ending suddenly , without any intelligent conclusion . 
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 . 
yet , for all these flaws , the film is deeply engrossing because of irons . 
as von bulow , he is brutally evil . 
anti-semitic , prejudiced , arrogant , protective , he is a rotten , lying monster , whose conviction may have been wrong legally , but morally he was to blame . 
irons plays him to a cold perfection , with pathetic attempts to gain moral support for his claims to innocence . 
he is an adulterous liar and a cheat who in all likelihood committed the murder . 
however , the genius of reversal of fortune comes in its distinction between moral culpability and legal responsibility . 
there is no doubt von bulow is responsible for his wife's death by years of neglect and coldness . 
however , legally , did he do the murder ? 
schroeder dares the viewer to make up his own mind . 
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 . 
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 . 
for all the failed dramatic theatrics , this is one that works beautifully . 
we don't know what happened . 
that sense of legal ambiguousness , along with von bulow's obvious moral guilt , is why reversalf fortune works . 
in the end , von bulow is as sadistic as ever . 
irons is haunting , and that is why reversal of fortune is so good .