In one of the most famous trials of the 1980s, European aristocrat Claus von Bülow (Jeremy Irons, who won an Oscar for his portrayal) was accused of the attempted murder of his millionairess wife Sunny (Glenn Close), whom he supposedly sent into a permanent coma with an overdose of insulin.
This film – based on a book by von Bülow’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz (played in the film by Ron Silver) – cleverly guides us through the events leading up to the trial, using flashbacks and narration from the comatose Sunny, intercut with the two trials whose outcome has been well reported (von Bülow was found guilty at his first trial and then acquitted on appeal at the next).
Sharply scripted by Nicholas Kazan, we get a look at how rich people with far too much time on their hands live (or, in Sunny’s case, do not).
This isn’t a documentary of the case, but absorbing and beautifully played out drama. The film doesn’t answer the question “Did he do it?” but leaves you to draw your own conclusions.
Martha ‘Sunny’ von Bülow died on 6 December 2008, at the age of 76. She spent the last 28 years of her life in a coma.
Martha ‘Sunny’ von Bülow
Glenn Close
Claus von Bülow
Jeremy Irons
Alan Dershowitz
Ron Silver
Sarah
Annabella Sciorra
Maria
Uta Hagen
David Marriott
Fisher Stevens
Peter MacIntosh
Jack Gilpin
Andrea Reynolds
Christine Baranski
Elon Dershowitz
Stephen Mailer
Ellen
Christine Dunford
Minnie
Felicity Huffman
Raj
Mano Singh
Nancy
Johann Carlo
Dobbs
Keith Reddin
Chuck
Alan Pottinger
Curly
Mitchell Whitfield
Jack
Tom Wright
Tom Berman
Gordon Joseph Weiss
Ed
Michael Lord
Mary
LisaGay Hamilton
Bill
Bill Camp
John
JD Cullum
Alexander von Auersberg
Jad Mager
Ala von Auersberg
Sarah Fearon
Older Cosima
Kristi Hundt
Young Cosima
Kara Emerson
Steve Famiglietti
Michael Wikes
Brillhoffer
Thomas Dorff
Alfie von Auersberg
Bruno Eyron
Dr Paultees
Redman Maxfield
Director
Barbet Schroeder
