Early on in this movie, Jeremy Irons delivers a line so poorly, that he just comes off as Jeremy Irons doing a terrible impression of Claus von Bulow ("Becauwz, Sunny detested dawk-tawrs!") If you were to roll your eyes and turn it off there, you'd miss a dryly funny, creepy, sad movie based on a nonfiction legal procedural... which is pretty bizarre in and of itself. This view into the lives of the idle rich is stunning.
The movie is narrated by Sunny von Bulow from her coma, which is only the second time I've seen a device like this used. (Sunset Blvd you'll recall, has an atypical narrator). People take issue with the narration, but I found the conceit to be the reason the movie grabbed my attention. Sunny's narration haunts the characters. Her august, bitter pronouncements lend the movie a compelling tone, which she and the movie wouldn't have if she was limited to just living scenes. The freedom the creative team feels in adapting a non-fiction news item is exhilarating: Narrating from a coma? A ghost-cam? A funny docu-drama about killing your wife? A deliberately chilly blue cast to the cinematography... Black humor from Irons sounding like Boris Karloff... What a mash-up. It does makes me wonder how such an unflattering portrait of Sunny was allowed by her children. And Irons more than makes up for that early dud line with many acid subtle readings. Lastly the film has an eerie, amorphous score that is very nice.
If I take issue with anything it's the Dershowitz (Ron Silver) portion of the film; which comprises a lesser, more sanctimonious product. With a "diversity-approved team" of coeds seemingly borrowed from 'the kids from Fame,' who generally give bad, uber-sincere performances that almost tank the movie.
Ultimately a woman with unlimited freedom and money is nonetheless shown to be as deliriously unhappy as anyone else. Irons won the Oscar, but Glenn Close inhabits her role also. She's quite good. Just rent it.
The movie is narrated by Sunny von Bulow from her coma, which is only the second time I've seen a device like this used. (Sunset Blvd you'll recall, has an atypical narrator). People take issue with the narration, but I found the conceit to be the reason the movie grabbed my attention. Sunny's narration haunts the characters. Her august, bitter pronouncements lend the movie a compelling tone, which she and the movie wouldn't have if she was limited to just living scenes. The freedom the creative team feels in adapting a non-fiction news item is exhilarating: Narrating from a coma? A ghost-cam? A funny docu-drama about killing your wife? A deliberately chilly blue cast to the cinematography... Black humor from Irons sounding like Boris Karloff... What a mash-up. It does makes me wonder how such an unflattering portrait of Sunny was allowed by her children. And Irons more than makes up for that early dud line with many acid subtle readings. Lastly the film has an eerie, amorphous score that is very nice.
If I take issue with anything it's the Dershowitz (Ron Silver) portion of the film; which comprises a lesser, more sanctimonious product. With a "diversity-approved team" of coeds seemingly borrowed from 'the kids from Fame,' who generally give bad, uber-sincere performances that almost tank the movie.
Ultimately a woman with unlimited freedom and money is nonetheless shown to be as deliriously unhappy as anyone else. Irons won the Oscar, but Glenn Close inhabits her role also. She's quite good. Just rent it.