Plot

Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.

Alan Dershowitz a brilliant professor of law is hired by wealthy socialite Claus von Bulow to attempt to overturn his two convictions for attempted murder of his extremely wealthy wife. Based on a true story the film concentrates not on the trial like other legal thrillers, but on the preparatory work that Dershowitz and his students put in as they attempt to disprove the prosecution's case and achieve the Reversal of Fortune of the title.—Mark Thompson <mrt@oasis.icl.co.uk>

When socialite Martha Sunny von Bulow inexplicably slips into an irreversible coma, police suspect foul play -- and the obvious suspect is her urbane husband, Claus. After being found guilty of murder, Claus is granted a retrial and hires showboat Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz to represent him. Though unconvinced of Claus's innocence, Dershowitz enjoys a challenge and -- along with a group of his students -- fights to have the verdict overturned.—Jwelch5742

A semi-fictionalized account of the appeal process by criminal lawyer/Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz of the 1982 conviction and thirty year sentence of Claus von Bülow for attempting to murder his Newport, Rhode Island socialite wife Martha Sunny von Bulow is presented, Claus who has always professed his innocence. Sunny has been in a coma since December 1980 - her second coma in the span of a year - she now declared brain dead, meaning she will never emerge from the coma alive. The attempted means of murder, that which purportedly placed her into this second coma, was by an overdose of insulin, she not needing such for any medical purpose. While money could have been a motive - Sunny worth $14 million, while Claus only worth $1 million - the conviction was centered on adultery, with Claus' mistress, daytime serial actress Alexandra Isles testifying against Claus for the prosecution. For reasons largely related to process of law, Dershowitz accepted the high profile appeal case when asked by Claus, despite believing, like most of the public, that Claus is indeed guilty, that belief only exacerbated by Claus' rather outward callous attitude and behavior, despite feeling despondent about another case where his two innocent clients were convicted of murder, and despite there only being negative consequences for his career if he loses the appeal. Dershowitz will find that Claus up close and personal does not largely change his view of him. With many of his students assisting him on the case - some who don't agree with helping free a person obviously guilty - as well his his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, an accomplished lawyer in her own right, Dershowitz will find that the case will take on more dimensions, some personal to him, than he could have imagined.—Huggo

On 27 December 1979, the millionaire Sunny von Bülow is found in coma for the second time in her bathroom with an overdose of insulin. Her European husband Claus von Bülow is convicted for attempted murder of Sunny, but he hires the expensive Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz to revert his sentence. Dershowitz teams up with his students to collect evidences to disprove the accusation and prove the innocence of Claus.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil