“Reversal of Fortune” quotes
(1990)
Barbet Schroeder
directed this movie
in 1990
Title Reversal of Fortune
Year 1990
Director Barbet Schroeder
Genre Drama, Biography, Mystery
Year 1990
Director Barbet Schroeder
Genre Drama, Biography, Mystery
Plot – In March of 1982 the enigmatic European aristocrat Claus von Bulow is convicted by an American court for attempting to murder his wife Sunny. The rich beautiful woman, mother of three (Alex and Ala from her first husband, and the young Cosima), fell into a coma twice. The first time she drank and took various drugs; she was upset by jealousy as Claus had a longtime lover. All theories were considered: Alex and Ala suspected their stepfather; trustful maid Maria had many doubts; and then there was the shadow of suicide, which divided public opinion and the Court. One year after her first coma, there was a second: Sunny's body was found in the bathroom, while a handbag with a hypodermic needle containing traces of insulin was discovered in the adjacent cloakroom. At the trial, despite some not entirely convincing evidence, Claus von Bulow is found guilty for attempted double uxoricide. While Sunny lies in a coma, Claus decides to appeal the ruling and contacts a famous lawyer, Professor Alan Dershowitz, a tenacious and skilled Jew. At first hesitant, the lawyer accepts the case and mobilizes his Harvard students. Rereading the procedural records, reviewing witness statements, examining the results highlighted by the coroner's reports, Dershowitz and his team find new evidence. They discover that an unknown drug mule in 1977 had delivered goods to Sunny's son, along with needles and syringes; they also discover inconsistencies in the various expert reports, especially with regards to the insulin, which should lead to all charges being dropped. During appeal procedings before the Rhode Island State Supreme Court, Dershowitz is exceptionally allowed to introduce the new evidence and he manages to clear von Bulow from the accusation with a reversal of the original verdict. However, once the trial is over and before a new one can begin, the lawyer lets von Bulow know that he is victorious strictly from a legal and judicial point of view, while instead from a moral point of view the lawyer's conscience prevents him from taking von Bulow's side.
All actors – Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Ron Silver, Annabella Sciorra, Uta Hagen, Fisher Stevens, Jack Gilpin, Christine Baranski, Stephen Mailer, Christine Dunford, Felicity Huffman, Mano Singh
show all“Reversal of Fortune” Quotes 22 quotes
- Alan Dershowitz: Reminds me of my Hitler dream. You know, Hitler calls up, he's alive... needs a lawyer. I say, "Sure, come on over". Then I have to decide: do I take the case, or do I kill him?
- Elon Dershowitz: You? No question.
- Alan Dershowitz: I would take the case.
- Elon Dershowitz: Then kill him.“Say something! Do something! Be a man! I already have a butler!”
“- Raj: I agree von Bülow is guilty, but then, that's the fun - that's the challenge.
- Alan Dershowitz: Now there is a lawyer.”“Claus, let me explain something to you: the less you tell me, the more options I have.”
“- Alan Dershowitz: I'm not a hired gun. I've got to feel there's some moral or constitutional issue at stake.
- Claus von Bülow: But I'm absolutely innocent, and my civil liberties have been egregiously violated!
- Alan Dershowitz: I've got two black kids facing the electric chair for a crime they did not commit. They are innocent.”“- Claus von Bülow: I'm not afraid, Alan. Let the chips fall where they may.
- Alan Dershowitz: That's what an innocent man would say.
- Claus von Bülow: I know.”“I think it's easier to love somebody than to live with them. Love is fantasy - living is work.”
“- Alan Dershowitz: You are a very strange man.
- Claus von Bülow: You have no idea.”“What do you give a wife that has everything?”
“- Alan Dershowitz: Well, a priest is the ideal witness: it's like getting the word of God.
- Claus von Bülow: I checked. God is unavailable.”“You're my student, you, you have a choice. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do; that is your choice.”
“- Alan Dershowitz: You do have one thing in your favor: everybody hates you.
- Claus von Bülow: Well, that's a start.”I never woke from this coma, and I never will. I am what doctors call "persistent vegetative" - a vegetable. According to medical experts, I could stay like this for a very long time - brain dead, body better than ever.
“If the rules don't work, you change them.”
“Claus von Bülow was given a second trial, and acquitted on both counts. This is all you can know, all you can be told. When you get where I am, you will know the rest.”
“You decide you're gonna get a divorce, you're gonna divorce your husband. A week later you're accused of child abuse.”
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