True Stories 11: 90s—Reversal of Fortune

As we’ve seen, true stories are often about crimes and criminals—and they’re always windows into the worlds that those criminals inhabit.

One case that riveted people during the 80s was that of Sunny von Bulow. The heiress went into a coma—her second, as it happens—and never came out. She was declared brain dead. Her husband, Klaus, was found guilty of attempted murder as it was thought he induced the coma on purpose to take control of her fortune. While Klaus was a millionaire on his own, Sunny was a millionaire many times over.

Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU7cBiiYcUg

Right away, you see this is a look into a stratum of society that most of us can only imagine. And that’s part of the fun of the film—we get to see how the 1% live and, crucially, how despicable they can be.

The plot of the film is simple—Klaus hires Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, to defend him in his appeal, adamantly insisting that he’s innocent. Dershowitz gets his law students to help him build the case. And therein lies the moral conundrum—for some believe him to be guilty.

That was the crux of the debate about this case—is he or isn’t he guilty. And the kicker—he wasn’t likeable… to anyone. This guy was so full of himself, so unable to feel any compassion for anyone—as Dershowitz says to him at one point: “You’re a very strange man,” and Klaus replies, “You have no idea.” And therein lies the fascination with Klaus—what’s his deal? How weird is he? Can you be innocent and still be a jerk? Just because you’re a jerk doesn’t mean you’re guilty, does it?

A fascinating character, for sure.

And Dershowitz is just as interesting. He’s dealing with people thinking he’s a scumbag for taking the case—from his students to his girlfriend to the general public—and it’s clear he never knows if the guy is guilty or not.

In terms of the writing, one of the interesting ways of telling the story is through Sunny’s voice—as she’s in a coma. And given that it’s all about how this happened to her—did Klaus put her in this coma i.e., was it attempted murder, or was it some sort of accident on her part?—given that important question, we as the audience keep waiting for her to answer it, and she never does.

And that’s one of the keys to the success of this film beyond just the incredibly fascinating character of Klaus—we never find out… did he do it? Didn’t he do it? We’re left up in the air. That’s a bit dangerous to do, as a writer—but in this case, the world WAS up in the air and only Klaus knew the true answer to that question.

Next week let’s take a look at a man about whom there’s no doubt—he was a hero—and that film is Schindler’s List.

Copyright © Diane Lake

21Aug22

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