A few years ago I read the book "The Von Bulow Affair" by William Wright. He certainly didn't share Alan Dershowitz's belief in Claus Von Bulow's innocence. In fact, his book points very much towards Von Bulow's guilt. "Reversal of Fortune" is based upon Alan Dershowitz's book of the same title. He was the defense attorney Claus Von Bulow (Jeremy Irons) hired after he was convicted of two counts of attempted murder.
"Reversal of Fortune" picks up with Claus Von Bulow hiring Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) to defend him on appeal to overturn a conviction of attempted murder of his wife, Sunny Von Bulow (Glen Close). The movie goes into the full scale and in-depth work Dershowitz and his students engage in to defend Von Bulow. Interestingly enough, author William Wright believes Von Bulow hired Dershowitz, not because he was innocent, but because Dershowitz was the preeminent attorney in finding legal loopholes to get his clients off.
"Reversal of Fortune" is engaging even for the legal novice. It's brimming with legal arguments and strategy. And even though it is a story primarily from Dershowitz's and Von Bulow's perspective Von Bulow doesn't come off as guilt free. Though I didn't finish the movie fully believing in Von Bulow's innocence, I'm certainly not as convinced of his guilt as I was before.
