Reversal of Fortune

Name: Reversal of Fortune
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Released: October 17, 1990
Duration: 111 min
Rating: 93
Cast: Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons

1990

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 18 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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8.0

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8.0	Your Score
8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

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REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: October 17, 1990

Starring: Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons

Summary: Jeremy Irons plays socialite Claus von Bulow, seeking legal exoneration in the most sensational attempted murder scandal of the 1980s. (Warner Bros.)

Director: Barbet Schroeder

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery

Rating: R

Runtime: 111 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Washington Post - Rita Kempley

This engrossing mystery-comedy peeks through the keyholes of the rich and infamous in a manner both droll and delicious. Read full review

100

Chicago Reader - Jonathan Rosenbaum

The juxtaposition of liberal Jewish attorney Dershowitz (Silver) and von Bulow working together on the latter's defense makes for some engagingly offbeat drama, with some interesting insights into the legal process. Read full review

100

Time - Richard Corliss

A marvelously sad and funny docucomedy. [22 Oct 1990]

100

Rolling Stone - Peter Travers

What makes it such a mesmerizing, wickedly witty entertainment is the revealing portrait it paints of an era in which everyone is presumed guilty where greed is concerned... It's an often chilly movie, but the chill cuts to the bone. Read full review

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) - Jay Scott

Mesmerizing. Read full review

USA Today - Mike Clark

If Silver is superb, Irons is transcendent. As some forgotten comic once said of George Sanders: A grapefruit wouldn't dare squirt in his eye. [17 Oct 1990]

The New Yorker - Pauline Kael

Dershowitz's life-enhancing scenes are flatulent, and they're dishonest: the movie seems to be putting us down for enjoying the scandal satire it's dishing up. [19 Nov 1990]

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User Reviews

EpicLadySponge

Mar 21, 2016

Reversal of Fortune is finally enjoyable only on its own times. Don't forget to watch all the movies I'm giving 9's in as of this time because movies like this one cannot be missed.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

BrendanH.

Apr 7, 2006

I've watched RofV six times and I never get tired of it. Never get tired of Ron Silver's vastly underrated performance, Jeremy Irons' introverted despair, Glenn Close's intoxicating mix of rage and ennui. The film confronts our assumptions of the "whodunnit" and turns I've watched RofV six times and I never get tired of it. Never get tired of Ron Silver's vastly underrated performance, Jeremy Irons' introverted despair, Glenn Close's intoxicating mix of rage and ennui. The film confronts our assumptions of the "whodunnit" and turns them on their head. In RoV, as in life, we can't always come to definite conclusions to what happened, or why; whether a man is good, evil, or lives in some point in between. Doesn't deserve to be mentioned with "The Godfather", but I love this movie. I think I'll watch it another six times.… Expand

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HanselH.

Mar 24, 2006

No. 9 on the all time metacritic list? No way. Not a bad movie. But highly overrated.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

lasttimeisaw

Jan 7, 2015

With its opening long shot panning above numerous estates in Rhode Island, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE inks a plaintive sentiment to this morally ambiguous true story, the case of socialite Sunny von Bülow (Close), who descends into an unexplained brain-dead coma in the 1980, and her currentWith its opening long shot panning above numerous estates in Rhode Island, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE inks a plaintive sentiment to this morally ambiguous true story, the case of socialite Sunny von Bülow (Close), who descends into an unexplained brain-dead coma in the 1980, and her current husband, Claus von Bülow (Irons) is charged with attempted murder by an overdose of insulin injection. Against all the odds to his trial, Claus hires Alan Dershowitz (Silver) as his defence and eventually gets away with the indictment while the truth remains a moot point. In real life Sunny died in 2008 after almost 28 years as a human vegetable and Alan would be involved as an appellate adviser in another notorious case of O.J. Simpson.
continue reading my review on my blog, google cinema omnivore, thanks.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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