Reversal of Fortune

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The title, Reversal of Fortune (1990), can refer to several aspects of this film, which is based on a true story. It can point to the change from consciousness to a coma that Sunny Von Bulow (Glenn Close) endures. It can also indicate what happens to her husband, Claus Von Bulow (Jeremy Irons, who won an Oscar for Best Actor for this role), who is accused of trying to kill his wife. It may be that Claus literally receives a fortune because if his wife dies, he inherits her extreme wealth. And finally, the word “reversal” could mean reversing a conviction of murder on appeal. The film also presents a situation where what is real can be difficult to determine.

The first shot of the film shows the opulent estates of the rich in Newport, Rhode Island from the air, as if the rich soar above others, and it highlights the reference to “fortune” in the title. But then, shot shifts to a hospital, pointing to that reversal of fortune. Sunny is on life support. The film has Sunny narrating while in her coma, a device that allows Glenn Close to add her voice in addition to the scenes where she is in flashback. The voiceover allows suggestions as to whether her condition was the result of her own actions or due to her husband’s intent. She recovered from an earlier coma which could suggest she is at fault, but there is the possibility that Claus just used her tendencies to cover up his own murderous intent, and his first attempt failed.

The maid, Maria (Uta Hagen) and Sunny’s children from a prior marriage were suspicious after the first coma and the second put Sunny in a persistent vegetative state, from which she did not recover. The police found that Sunny’s insulin level when she entered the hospital was high enough to cause a coma or kill her, most likely due to an injection. They found a needle supposedly encrusted with insulin residue, which pointed to Claus as the perpetrator. Claus could inherit fourteen million dollars, so there is motive. In addition, Claus and Sunny had an arrangement where he could have mistresses. Claus was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to thirty years. These are the general facts of the case.

The real story begins when lawyer Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) becomes involved. He says he takes cases that for him have either a moral or constitutional imperative. The contrast in the fairness of the justice system here occurs because Alan loses a case about two innocent Black youths at the time the wealthy Claus wants to hire him. Alan is skeptical of Claus’s innocence and will charge him a great deal to help him defend the more disadvantaged.

Claus has a snobbish voice, and Irons said it was the hardest part of his performance. He makes a reference to admiring the Jewish people, which, when going out of the way to be stated, sounds prejudicial. At lunch, when Alan wants to talk about the “unpleasantness,” Claus thinks he means the lawyer’s fee, not the health of his wife. It highlights Claus’s lack of empathy. Alan says that one thing in Claus’s favor is that everybody hates him, which means one can show that Claus can be a victim. Of course, it’s a left-handed comment.

Maria the maid testified that she found a vial of insulin and a hypodermic needle, yet Sunny was not diabetic. Alan at the beginning feels that he would have voted to convict Claus if on the jury. He says if Hitler had asked him to defend him, his choice would have been to defend him or kill him. He admits that he would take the case and then kill Hitler. That shows both sides of Alan, a person who wants to follow the law, but also thinks outside it when it comes to morality. (Alan was part of the defense teams for O. J. Simpson and Jeffrey Epstein trials, and defended President Donald Trump in the impeachment trials. It’s up to you to judge his legal and moral codes).

Alan gathers a team around him to question him, to keep him thinking objectively and considering different strategies. It shows how Alan is willing to let his ego come under scrutiny. In contrast, you have Claus, who says, “Let the chips fall where they may,” to which Alan says that is what an innocent person would say. Claus’s response with a sly smile is, “I know.” The scene reveals that Claus is a schemer who is centered on his own self-interest.

Claus adds context to the basic charges by saying Sunny detested doctors and that is why he didn’t call one immediately. He knew there were hypodermic needles because they injected themselves with vitamin B12 shots at one time. He also says that Sunny took some of his prescriptions.

One of Alan’s team members is Minnie (Felicity Huffman) who argues that Claus, a privileged aristocrat, is despicable and that by trying to get him off, they are culpable as “accessories after the fact” in allowing a heinous man to go free. Generally, Alan gives the usual argument that everyone must have a fair trial to ensure that the innocent ones “falsely accused” have the same rights to even the playing field. In Claus’s case he says he is “pissed off,” because the children hired their own investigator to search for evidence. If rich people can decide what the evidence is in a case, then that precedent will make it difficult for poor people to be investigated in the same way the privileged are.

The investigation reveals how unsavory characters get involved, trying to cash in on a high-profile case, or hiding mistakes, which shows the road to justice can be a deceptive one. For instance, there is the slimy David Marriott (Fisher Stevens) who says he helped deliver drugs to Sunny. He later edits a tape to make it look like Alan was paying him to falsify evidence. We don’t learn why he did that (an example of how truth can be twisted). The lawyer in the earlier trial has notes that he is unwilling to share, but which eventually become known. Alan feels that there was no finding of insulin until after the fact. Alan suggests there may have been a frame-up of Claus by Sunny’s children, the next in line in inheritance. But as one student later says, the children could have framed “a guilty man.” There is a news article which has author Truman Capote revealing that Sunny showed him how to inject drugs. So, there are several layers muddling the attempt to get at what really happened.

Claus has a very dark sense of humor, which alienates him from others. When he meets Alan’s defense team, he says, “What do you give a wife who has everything? …An injection of insulin.” And, “How do you define a fear of insulin? … Claus-traphobia.” In another conversation with Allan, who says that a priest is an ideal witness, because “it’s like getting the word of God,” Claus says, “I checked. God is unavailable.” The last lines of the film have Claus getting cigarettes at a pharmacy. After the clerk recognizes him, he says he also wants, “a vial of insulin…just kidding.”

At one interview, Alan, trying to decipher Claus’s psyche, asks why he stayed in the flat where his mother died for five days until reporting the death. Claus is not forthcoming, saying, “My mother is my own business.” Who is this guy? Is he innocent or a killer? That is what Alan is trying to figure out. Especially when we have the narration of the comatose Sunny saying that she took huge amounts of laxatives and aspirin, used an assortment of sedatives, smoked a great deal, and drank to excess on certain occasions. We have a situation where it is difficult to determine what is true and what is false about the circumstances surrounding her vegetative state. Given her self-destructive actions, there is the possibility of her being suicidal.

Claus does not demonize Sunny. Quite the opposite. He says that she was “lovely,” and loved Christmas because more than anything else, she enjoyed giving gifts to others. The couple weren’t intimate for quite a while, but even though she allowed Claus his brief infidelities with call girls, she was hurt when Claus became attached to Alexandra Ises (Julia Hagerty) who sent his love letters to her to spite Sunny. According to Claus, they did discuss divorce, but he wanted to stay with Sunny. However, he wanted to work to have a sense of value, but Sunny wanted him to herself. As Claus tells Allan’s team, she thought her husband was confusing since he married her for her money but still wanted to have a job. Claus tells the team that the second coma was “much more theatrical.” An outraged Alan asks if Claus even cares about his wife’s horrible predicament. He claims he does, but he says. “I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve.” The audience can never get a true fix on what makes Claus and Sunny tick.

Comatose Sunny rightfully says, “it’s easy to forget this is all about me.” The whole story focuses on Claus, but she is the one who is hopelessly confined to a bed, needing others to maintain her existence. That may say something about the rest of us who would rather center on a scandal than on someone’s suffering, or her prior life full of passion and tenderness with Claus, and love for her children. There is a scene where she and Claus meet early on at an outdoor party where a pet tiger approaches her and she is bold about giving the creature a snack. Claus is excited by this act and joins Sunny near the animal. Sunny says, “I never liked people much, not as a rule.” She says that Claus was “different. Not a normal person I guess.” Here we have a sense of how out of the mainstream they were, more comfortable with a wild beast than other humans. Sunny’s voiceover states that things later became “brutish” and “cold,” and she wonders, “is he the Devil? If so, can the Devil get justice?” She wonders if all the legal activity is “in Satan’s service.” That sounds like what Alan talked about earlier concerning how even the guilty must have a fair trial.

Alan’s personality is not free of guilt, also. He sacrifices his personal relationships for his work, which he concedes is “all that I care about.” His own son interrupts him and sarcastically introduces his daughter to Alan, as if he hasn’t had time for her. His ex-girlfriend, Sarah (Annabella Sciorra), who is helping him with the case, says he doesn’t pay attention to those he cares about. He may have invited her to the team so he can be close to her, without being emotionally available.

After describing what happened the night of the second coma, Claus says he discovered Sunny passed out in her bathroom, her “sanctuary,” an almost religious word ironically attributed to a very non-spiritual place, He tells a doubting Alan, “I don’t know the whole truth.” That goes for the audience as well. As Alan says it’s very difficult to trust a man one doesn’t understand. Alan says to Claus, “You’re a very strange man.” To which, Claus responds, “You have no idea.” He admits not only to his “strangeness,” which is off-putting, but that Alan can’t fathom him, and neither can we.

The team eventually gets tests that show that the prosecution’s evidence of residual insulin on a hypodermic needle was inconclusive. Sunny was hypoglycemic, and then would overdose on sweets, which could lead to overcompensation by the body to produce insulin. Alan is able to introduce the new evidence despite the fact the case is on appeal by citing a Rhode Island Supreme Court justice’s prior ruling. They are able to reverse the convictions.

But Alan and Sarah tell Alan’s son two differing versions of what could have happened. Sunny was suicidal, could have taken too many medications, wanted the windows opened, and passed out in her bathroom while Claus was walking the dogs, exercising, and showering. She was ready to pee, and that’s how her nightgown was hiked up. Or, Claus opened the windows and dragged her into the bathroom, which hiked up the sleep clothes, and his actions helped the barbiturates on the way to her destruction, So, we are still in the dark.

Sunny’s last words are that we will only know the truth “When you get where I am,” which means not in this life. After Alan tells Claus about the good news, Alan, again showing the division on how he lives his life, says to him, “Legally, this was an important victory. Morally, you’re on your own.”

As are we.

The Lion in Winter

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

I enjoy good dialogue and there is plenty of it in The Lion in Winter (1968). James Goldman wrote the screenplay based on his play (and won a writing Oscar). The writing reveals the characters’ personalities while it entertains with its wit and ferociousness. In a way the movie is a medieval version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe. The main desire here is ambition and power, and the hope of the royal offspring for acknowledgment. But also for the king and his wife it’s a game to keep them engaged in life in defiance of aging.

The titles are displayed with stone carvings of historical visages which suggest the iconic nature of these bigger-than-life people. Peter O’Toole reprises his role of King Henry II of England, an older version of the ruler he played in Becket which depicted the royal’s relationship with Richard Burton’s archbishop. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in both films, although I consider this performance the best in a distinguished career. The opening scene has Henry still strong enough to swordfight in his “winter” years as he says, “Come for me!” He is testing one of his sons, John (Nigel Terry), to see if he is worthy of the crown.

Henry wants his kingdom, and therefore his legacy, to last. He tells Alais (Jane Merrow), his young lover, that he doesn’t want to go the way of King Lear who divided his lands between three children and weakened the kingdom. In the twelfth century, the people thought the King was the closest individual to God. Thus, who held the position was of extreme importance. Unfortunately, in this story, the candidates are seriously flawed.

Henry flatters for the moment whoever he wants to win over and disdains those he wishes to lord over. He wants to reassure Alais by saying he has bedded many, including “countesses,” “whores,” “and little boys,” but he only loves her. He dismisses his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn, tying with Barbra Streisand for the Best Actress Oscar for that year), calling her “the gorgon,” who is “decaying” where he “dungeons” her and only releases Eleanor on holidays. She is a threat to his wishes, but as we see a threat he respects.

We meet Richard, who we know as “the Lion-Hearted,” in the form of Anthony Hopkins (in his feature film debut). This son, too, is introduced in combat games as he jousts. He knocks a foe off his horse and appears to be ready to kill him with his sword until interrupted. Richard’s face appears in turmoil, as he struggles with his bloodlust.

The film introduces son Geoffrey (Johns Castle) also engaging in battle, but not personally. He does not physically partake in combat, but he instead directs troops in war games. The scene shows Geoffrey to be intellectual, aloof, seeing others do the fighting for him.

Alais reassures Henry after a bout of lovemaking that he will endure the day’s obstacles because he is like the rocks at Stonehenge, and that “nothing knocks” him down. The reference recalls the stone figures displayed with the credits, suggesting the king’s almost mythical strength.

Eleanor wants Richard to be king, and Henry wants John. But their only motives may be that they want to fight each other as opposed to believing their selections are the best ones. John is an adolescent who according to Alais has pimples and smells. He runs around like a child at play or in fear. Henry is willing to have Alais marry John for her dowry while she will remain his mistress. It seems the powerful are exempt from rules of morality. Along with the children, Alais wants some recognition, saying she could be a threat to Henry if she discloses what he wants. He dismisses her importance after previously saying how she is the only thing he ever loved. He brandishes his power, telling her that whatever he says, goes, and that includes him saying they are through or that she is to marry John.

Henry says to Alais that there may have been an “era” when he adored Eleanor. The word evokes a person whose life is attached to the ages. In contrast to that sense of grandeur, Henry moves one hair on her ahead that is askew, saying “nothing in life has any business being perfect.” There is a cynical feel to Henry sometimes, as if life is not what it’s cracked up to be.

John talks like a child, saying daddy loves me best, while Richard declares that he will be the next sovereign. Henry says to Alais he has no problem with his boys plotting against him, because it’s politics, which is a skill necessary to lead. He says, “I’ve plotted all my life. There’s no other way to be alive, king, and fifty all at once.” There is that harsh reality that Henry acknowledges about the world of rulers.

When Eleanor arrives by boat, the first thing Henry asks is whether the water parted for her. She said she told it to stay flat. They revel in the majestic nature of their positions. They smile at each other as they banter, with her sarcastically saying how he keeps her young because he lets her out for the Christmas holidays, like a schoolgirl. She is frank in her language and blunt when she tells her sons that despite her superior position, her destiny as a woman came down to what gender babies she produced. If she had not produced only girls with her first husband, she would still be queen of France and never would have met these sons. “Such, my angels, is the role of sex in history,” she says.

Eleanor says she raised Alais so she has mixed feelings about her. Richard calls her the “whore,” and yet he wants her as his queen as does John. Politics and power reign, not love. Henry jokingly says he and Eleanor will fight “tusk to tusk for eternity.” He relishes the family fight, and there is the feeling that they believe they are beyond earthly constraints and will live forever.

King Philip (Timothy Dalton) is a young monarch, and Henry attempts to bully him about treaties, but the French leader holds his own in their initial meeting. Alais is Philip’s half-sister and the daughter of the previous king of France, Eleanor’s first husband, Louis. He had promised Alais to Henry’s heir to the throne. Philip wants that to happen so that France will have influence in England. Otherwise, Philip wants the area known as Vexin, which was Alais’s dowery, forfeited. Henry says he already occupies the land, so he owns it. But as he reveals to Eleanor later he does not want another war, and enjoys the actions of a peaceful king.

Richard has possession of the precious Aquitaine region and refuses to yield anything to John who he calls “that walking pustule.” John appears hunched over and decrepit, so Richard’s assessment of him is understandable.

Geoffrey says he will be John’s chancellor, which is a powerful position. He positions himself for that job because Geoffrey says, “no one thinks of the crown and thinks of Geoff.” He adds, “It’s not the power I feel deprived of; it’s the mention I miss. There’s no affection for me here; you wouldn’t think I’d want that, would you?” Geoffrey knows his place in his parents’ feelings, but he resents that he is not accepted by them. Thus, he must be content with being the power behind a week person sitting on the throne. So, John is his best choice to be king.

Eleanor says to Alais she prefers her to her boys, but it is just a setup to then remind her that Henry chose Alais and her land over his previous lover. The implication is that he will have no problem discarding her for his own purposes. She then says she wouldn’t hurt Alais, after she just did, and Alais understands how unscrupulous Eleanor is.

Henry and Eleanor rotate words of affection and attacks with whiplash speed. He asks how she is doing but then says he will never set her free since she led several civil wars against him. He also dismisses Alais as just an old man’s dalliance, while before he told the young woman he loved her. She says she does like seeing him again. Their respect for each other comes through here, as she says he is still “a marvel of a man,” and he says, “and you’re my lady.”

On the surface they go to dinner smiling, hand-in-hand, as they walk among the many guests. Eleanor says she will have Richard become king and cares about that because Henry cares who will succeed him. She readily admits it is just to vex him that she disagrees. He says he wants some peace, and she offers, “eternal peace,” a not-so-subtle death threat. When he says he will strike her any way he can there are dogs barking and growling in the background to stress the savagery behind his threat, and she looks worried. She asks if he ever loved her and he says no, another reversal of affections. She says it will make their fighting easier, but her asking implies that she feels hurt.

Eleanor asks Richard to see her. She says she hopes for a reunion since they have been apart. But she calls him “dull,” and when she states that his violence on the battlefield agrees with him, it is not a compliment. He doesn’t trust her, thinking he she might try to ambush him. He has the Aquitaine, but believes she wants it back. He says she’s “so deceitful,” that she “can’t ask for water” when she’s “thirsty.” She would lie even if her life was at stake. He goes on to say, “We can tangle spiders in the webs you weave.” Now that is a witty way of saying his mother can trap even those that are skillful in laying their own traps.

Henry says he is willing to give in to letting Richard be king because his son would fight him for it anyway, and at least England would stay unified. John, of course, feels betrayed.

Eleanor is always suspicious of her husband and says that the “second coming” will occur before Henry gives up on John and lets Richard marry Alais. Geoffrey has no loyalty to anyone but himself, so he quickly says he will help Eleanor if he becomes Richard’s chancellor by manipulating John. She sees his cruel selfish nature, and he acknowledges that he would sell them all out if he found a way. Geoffrey shows that Henry is right when he said that “power” is the only fact to face in the world as it is the preoccupation of all heads of state, then and now.

In another talk with Richard, Eleanor says she just wants to see him be king, but he says that all she wants is to get vengeance on Henry for locking her up, and he does not want to be used for that purpose. She goads him by saying how Henry was superior to Richard at an earlier age. She recalls when Henry was eighteen he had, “a mind like Aristotle’s and a form like mortal sin. We shattered the Commandments on the spot.”  This daunting description again shows how the two envision themselves as grander than others. It also emphasizes Eleanor’s earthiness, which is noted when she says she rode “bare-breasted” while on one of the Crusades. After being pushed, she admits that what she really wants is the Aquitaine back, and Richard believes it because it is power she wants. She says she wants it only because she can use it to bargain with Henry. When she says she loves Richard, he is cold, saying, “You love nothing. You’re incomplete. The human parts of you are missing. You’re as dead as you are deadly.” His zombie-like description of her has truth in it, but we have seen varying emotions in her. She cuts herself on the arm and he melts, as she reminds him of pleasant memories when he was a child. Is she sincere about her affections? Maybe, at least in the moment.

                                    

The following scenes are labyrinthine in the moves and counter moves, as all the principles jockey for position. It’s not an accident that there is a chessboard with pieces on display. Philip, Geoffrey, and John plot a war against Richard and Eleanor to make John king. Eleanor tells Henry that perhaps Richard would not believe Henry’s offer to make him king. His witty response is, “There’s no sense in asking if the air is good if there’s nothing else to breathe.” Henry’s impression of his absolute power is evident here. He wants the Aquitaine for John, and she refuses. She says she’s like the earth, “There’s no way around me.” She refuses to bow under Henry’s threats. She knows she can still inflict emotional pain on him when she says she slept with Thomas Becket. When he shudders, she admits it’s a lie, but she can see she can hurt him. She even suggests that she may have slept with Henry’s father. He offers her freedom after ten years of imprisonment if she releases the Aquitaine to John. She counters with only if Richard and Alais marry immediately. Again, there are dogs barking and growling to mimic the bestial nature of these attacks on each other.

Henry acts as if he goes along with the marriage despite Alais’s protests. She has already expressed her disgust at being used as a pawn and doubts Henry’s stating he loves her. When they are at the altar, Henry lets out that he will get the Aquitaine so that Richard will hear it and refuse to go forward with the wedding. Philip may be young, but he realized Henry’s ploy to torpedo the wedding. John is back in the picture again as a possible king. And the scheming goes round and round.

Henry says he enjoys being king as he plays with the ambitions and emotions of others. It is sadistic. Eleanor takes on the role of masochist as she asks to see Henry kiss Alais. She says it’s an intellectual exercise because she imagines it and wants to see how reality fits her imagination. However, when she witnesses the act, she shakes, and her eyes become moist. Her sense of loss is palpable.

She feels defeated and resigned to going back to her jail. Her sons visit her. Cold Geoffrey is probably that way because, as he says, he only remembers indifference from his parents. Eleanor admits that at times they did not like any of the children, which explains the young men’s insecurity. There is sibling rivalry between John and Richard to the point that Richard draws a knife. Eleanor says they all have knives. Despite the current times (1183), “we’re barbarians … We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside ... For the love of God, can’t we love one another, just a little. That’s how peace begins … We could change the world.” Her words are timeless, as she lays all crimes of violence at the feet of leaders who rule countries and members of families who feud with each other.

John blurts out that he must see Philip because they had an alliance to wage war against Henry and Richard and he must stop Henry from hearing about it to stay in the king’s favor. Eleanor, feeling revived as she sees an opening to get what she wants, tells Richard to promise Philip “anything.” Her insinuation reveals that she probably knows of Richard’s homosexual involvement with Philip in the past.

An almost absurd scene follows in Philip’s chambers as all the males maneuver for political position. John, hiding, hears Geoffrey plot against everyone else with Philip. John’s dullness can be seen as he says to Geoffrey, “You’re a stinker, and you stink.” Whereas the more eloquent insult from Geoffrey is, “If you’re a prince, there’s a hope for every ape in Africa.” Richard arrives as the other two brothers hide. Richard wants Philip’s military backing to gain the throne. The conversation reveals what Eleanor hinted at, and the affection that Richard has for Philip under his bluster is evident. As Philip said, tapestries are for hiding, so Richard now hides as Henry shows up. Henry discovers Philip’s plans of pitting Henry’s children against him. Philip tells Henry about suffering Richard’s advances and allowing Richard to believe he loved him so he could lord it over Henry. The sons come out of hiding, and Richard is embarrassed and emotional for a change as he said he would have been loyal to Henry if his father had shown some affection for him. John’s willingness to wage war against Henry hurts the monarch, but John says Henry never loved anybody. Geoffrey says he’s all that’s left to choose from to be king, but he is loyal only to his own ambitions. Henry and Eleanor’s desire to control and adopt power plays left their sons warped in emotional deprivation.

Henry is shaken by the nature of his boys and denies them all. He says he married a woman “out of legend,” still showing his admiration for Eleanor. But he says he had no “sons,” and says his children are gone.

A meeting between Eleanor and Alais contrasts them and yet shows their mixed feelings for each other. Eleanor says she may have loved Henry “before the flood,” referencing Genesis, adding to her perception of a connection to ancient and biblical times. She doesn’t like that Alais would sit next to Henry because that is her place. Alais says that Eleanor loves the kingdom whereas she just loves Henry. She says her gift for Christmas would be for Eleanor to suffer. But then they embrace, since Eleanor and she were close for many years.

Henry enters and dismisses Alais. Eleanor is tired and says she just wants things over. She says she will sign her lands over to John, but Henry just applauds her, assuming it’s a performance. They have been so devious with each other they can’t even tell what’s true, He says that he doesn’t want her to sign anything. He delights in manipulating her and finally reveals that he will go to Rome for an annulment so he can marry Alais and she can give him more sons, the current ones being defective. He says Geoffrey is “a device. He’s wheels and gears.” John cheats, lies, frequents whores, and whips servants. She blames him for John, and he blames her for keeping Richard to herself and denying him complete development. They continue to spar as she says, “I adored you. I still do.” He says that’s the most terrible lie of all. She says she knows, “That’s why I saved it up until now.”

They momentarily relish the dynamic between them, hug, reminisce, and kiss. However, they can’t help themselves; they must keep battling. She says there will be no annulment because she will not let Henry go. He says there is no connection between them, no meetings, gifts, or communications. What she really wants still is Richard to become king, and she just has to wait as he grows old and feeble for it to happen. If a son is born to him, she’ll push Richard through “the nursery door,” to kill his “grotesque” offspring. She does not consider that scenario cruel after all that he has put her through. She says, “I could peel you like a pear and God himself would call it justice!”

As Henry is ready to storm off to Rome for an annulment from the Pope, Eleanor says that his sons will join with her and Philip to defeat him when the boys know his plan to marry and have more sons. He counters by saying he will lock them all up. She torments him by describing having had sex with his father. After he runs out, she says, in contrast to the previous exalted dialogue, “Well, what family doesn’t have its ups and downs.” It’s an ironic statement considering how we have been dealing with kings, princes, and a queen. Hardly a pedestrian bunch.

Henry imprisons the boys and convenes an entourage to take him and Alais to Rome for an annulment and a wedding. She wisely notes that he must keep the sons imprisoned or else they will revolt. And if Henry dies and they get out they will kill the new offspring. Eleanor bribes a knight so she can give the captives knives to escape. Geoffrey thinks the best move is to kill Henry, which horrifies Eleanor. She tells Richard it’s “unnatural” to be an assassin. He counters with the nihilistic view that exists in the story by saying, “If poisoned mushrooms grow and babies come with crooked backs, if goiters thrive and dogs go mad and wives kill husbands, what’s unnatural?” She says she is not responsible for what he has become, but he points out she was his role model.

Henry shows up in the wine cellar and when Richard grabs one of the knives, Henry tosses the other knives to John and Geoffrey. Henry now echoes what were the first lines of the film, “Come for me!” It is not just practice now, but it can be a test. Geoffrey doesn’t have the stomach for it. Richard has difficulty initiating the attack against the reigning king. John lunges for Henry, who sidesteps him and puts a knife to his throat. Eleanor surprises by calling Henry’s bluff. She says they are assassins and traitors so he should execute them. Henry slams the flat part of his sword onto Richard’s shoulder and finds that he cannot kill his own children.

He says he’s lost everything and blames Eleanor. She is unsympathetic to his complaints. She tells him to take responsibility. “If you break it’s because you are brittle,” she says. She has truly lost, she says, because she can’t have him back. She says she wants to die, and he comforts her. She says there is no hope in life, but he counters by saying they are alive and that is what hope is, a kind of reduction of the cliché, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.” She says that they are “Jungle creatures.” Despite their intelligence, they figuratively claw and bite to survive.

He accompanies her to her boat, and she asks if she can come back at Easter. He says, “Come the resurrection, you can strike me down again.” They look forward to their political and personal jousts. He says as she sails away that he hopes they never die, and she feels the same. He says, “Do you think there’s any chance of it?” The two historical battlers laugh as they part, contemplating immortality again. And right they are, since they live on in texts and stories.

The Ipcress File

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

There were spy stories on film before the early 1960’s, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock, which leaned toward the seedy side of a secret agent’s life. However, after the James Bond franchise started, the impression then became what a glamorous life spies had, bordering on superhero status. John le Carre’s stories changed the direction back to the grim view, and in 1965 his The Spy Who Came in from the Cold appeared on screen and so did The Ipcress File. The latter, produced by Harry Saltzman, a producer behind many James Bond flicks, presented an anti-hero as the focus of the story, but kept some of the Bond humor. It also jump-started the career of Michael Caine, the first leading man to wear non-dashing eyeglasses.

The movie’s plot centers on the inability of several top British to continue their work. The latest one is named Dr. Radcliffe (Aubrey Richards). He is kidnapped and his bodyguard is killed during the abduction, which happens on a train (trains are good places for intrigue. Think of North by Northwest, Murder on the Orient Express, even the Bond film, Frome Russia with Love). The secret agent boss is the condescending Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman), who recruits Harry Palmer (Caine) to replace the dead agent. Our first view of Harry is when a loud alarm clock rings, like an alert sounding, waking him. We see blurred vision through his myopic eyes which becomes clear after he puts on the eyeglasses. The shot suggests how reality can be distorted by deceptive people until the perception of them becomes clear.

The musical score is adept at mimicking the feeling of something mysterious that ends in climatic notes suggesting revelation. Think of Henry Mancini’s work in Experiment in Terror and Charade.

Harry lives a modest life except for the surprising fact that he is a gourmet who enjoys a cup of freshly ground coffee made in a French press which hints at his special nature which contrasts with his boring current assignment. He occupies a sleazy stakeout room where he reports boring details of his observations. It is quite a contrast to the exotic locales and adrenalin-pumped Bond or Matt Helm adventures. Harry’s wit appears early when his relief shows up and the man expresses disdain for their boss. Harry says he must do some “wiping” because the tape is “still running.”

The first meeting with Colonel Ross is in a shadowy room, which reflects the covert dealings of these operatives. Those shadows persist throughout the film. As IMDb notes, many camera views appear through half-open doors, over shoulders, or through windows or screens to suggest people are spying on others. In this first scene with Ross the camera is aimed upwards. As IMDb notes, it makes the viewers feel as if they are crouching, looking at things from below. That lurking perspective may be to place the audience in the positions of spies themselves, which, of course, is the feeling Hitchcock conveys in his films that stress the audience’s voyeurism.

Ross’s condescending nature is evident as he immediately chastises Harry for not being secretive enough when he doesn’t close the door as he enters. Harry’s wages are pitiful even for the time, and since he is transferring to a promotion, Ross says he will get him a pittance more. Harry says, in a quietly sarcastic way, that he can now get that “infrared grille” he wanted. The squabbling over wages would never appear in a Bond movie, and the conversation grounds the story in what concerns everyday people. Ross says he is transferring Harry to a spot that can make better use of his talents. Later, we see how telling that remark is. The caustic Ross says that Harry’s new boss, Major Dalby (Nigel Greene), does not have Ross’s “sense of humor.” Harry wittily says, “Yes sir. I will miss that sir.”

The interchange between Ross and Dalby conveys much with action and words. Ross thuds his umbrella and an attaché case on Dalby’s desk, implying he’s upset with Dalby’s work. When the Major says he hopes Ross isn’t suggesting that his section was negligent in Dr. Radcliffe’s disappearance, Ross’s response of “There’s no question of that,” can be taken two ways, which fits in with the secretive nature of their work. He adds menace to his conversation when he threatens that if they don’t get Radcliffe back, their superiors may shut Dalby’s office down. He notes that Harry is a bit “insubordinate” but a good man. Ross downplays that aspect of Harry as we see for his own purposes, which, of course, are hidden here.

When Harry meets Dalby for the first time, he again forgets to shut the door. Could that fact suggest that Harry is more transparent and not as devious as his superiors? Ross’s superior attitude is more subtle, but Dalby’s manner is blunt, harshly threatening Harry if he doesn’t toe the line. He reads from Harry’s personnel file, which labels him, “Insubordinate, insolent. A trickster. Perhaps with criminal tendencies.” Dalby admits that the “last quality may be useful.” What does that say about the fine line between the lawful and the unlawful? Dalby makes sure that Harry understands that he reports to Dalby first, not Ross. Other than the fact that Dalby is his immediate superior, why this rule? Is he being secretive within his own organization, or does he suspect Ross of being a traitor?

Instead of the exotic devices that Q supplies Bond, Palmer just gets a different gun and observes some film footage with other agents of the likely man who has the power to kidnap Radcliffe and sell him to the highest bidder. The assignment is to track down the person, Grantby, known as Bluejay (Frank Gatliff), a deceptively benign name, and his second-in-command, Housemartin (Oliver MacGreevy), and let them know the British government wants to buy the scientist back. At the briefing, Harry develops a friendship with Jock Carswell (Gordon Jackson).

The grumpy Alice (Frida Bamford), with a cigarette dangling from her lips which reinforces her sour disposition, is a sort of anti-Moneypenny employee, not lovely or fun. She instead is a bureaucrat, doling out restrictions and forms. Dalby wants his operatives to fill out a field report every time they make an inquiry. It’s not Harry’s style, so instead of getting bogged down in the numerous leads that Dalby issues (deliberate procrastination?), Harry uses a source at Scotland Yard to find Bluejay who showed up at the same place three times for long enough to get parking tickets. It implies that the man could have been doing some business at the location. (The gray, rainy weather is another attempt to de-romanticize the work).

After acquiring Bluejay’s car license number, Harry stakes out the place where the car shows up. Housemartin appears to put more change in the parking meter, and that allows the astute Harry to follow the man into a science museum library. The studious setting contrasts with the intrigue that transpires, although the science part fits what’s happening to the “brain drain” that England is experiencing. After making contact with Bluejay, the man gives Harry a phone number to call later. Harry’s intelligence is on display as he immediately goes to a phone booth and discovers that the number is invalid. When he tries to stop Bluejay outside, he gets into a fight with Housemartin, who escapes and drives his boss away. The camera films the fight through a car window, suggesting the way one spies on others.

On his way back to his place with his foodie goodies, Harry is clever enough to notice the light on in his flat. He has his gun out and the camera gives us a covert shot through a keyhole in keeping with the spy story. Fellow agent Jean Courtney (Sue Lloyed) is there, holding Harry’s automatic pistol. She notes it’s forbidden to use it, and Harry’s sharp response is that his mother gave it to him for Christmas. He quickly realizes that she is on the job, and she admits that Dalby sent her to assess Harry as a new member of the team (which turns out to be a lie). However, it again shows the suspicious nature of the profession. He asks Jean to put on Mozart as he prepares a fine meal, which points to Harry’s refined tastes despite his otherwise unsavory existence. Jean confirms Harry’s “criminal tendencies” by noting while in the military Harry was illegally exploiting the Germans for profit and was caught. Instead of serving a two-year prison sentence, the intelligence service offered a difficult-to-decline stint as a spy. Here, you either go to jail or work in a job for the government. The story does not offer good alternatives.

Harry’s connections note that Housemartin was arrested, but somebody impersonating Harry and Jock pretended to interrogate the man and killed him. Duplicity and murder are part of the goings on here. Housemartin was in possession of electrical equipment in a suitcase, which the killers took with them. Housemartin was apprehended at an abandoned factory. Harry lies (in this profession it obviously comes in handy he realizes) about his authority on the phone and gets a team to join him at the factory. Dalby shows up and Harry justifies his not following the rules because he thinks the missing scientist is there. Whoever was there cleared out. It seems, suspiciously, like others are always one step ahead of Harry. Harry says that if Radcliffe had been there, he would have been “a hero.” Dalby’s curt response is, “He wasn’t. And you’re not.” There is no larger-than-life super heroism going on here, as in Bond or Marvel films. However, Harry does find a piece of audio tape that did not get destroyed in a stove in the factory. It has “IPCRESS” written on it. When they play the tape all they hear is what sounds like strange, distorted sounds.

Ross appears at the grocery store while Harry buys his food. Ross has trouble navigating his shopping cart among the people there, suggesting that his clandestine life causes him to be out of his element when it comes to the average citizen. He is only there to try and get Harry to photograph the IPCRESS file, and to keep his actions secret from Dalby. He threatens Harry with imprisonment if he doesn’t keep the request private. Dalby didn’t want Harry to report any findings to Ross, and now Ross is acting suspiciously, meeting outside of work, and keeping secrets from Dalby. Harry is caught in the middle of questionable activity by two agents who are supposed to be patriotic government workers. What adds to the duplicity is Harry thinks Jean is working for Ross, and she thinks he is still working for Ross. It doesn’t stop them from becoming intimate despite their suspicions.

Dalby has made contact with Bluejay and they meet at an outdoor band concert to discuss the exchange of cash for Radcliffe. Interestingly, Dalby brings Harry with him, which does not seem necessary. The subsequent rendezvous is at a dark underground garage, which fits the secret activity occurring. Both sides carry automatic weapons as cash is counted while a doctor checks out the sedated Radcliffe. The transaction goes smoothly until Harry sees someone lurking in the shadows and opens fire. Dalby discovers Harry has killed an American agent, who was tailing Bluejay. Again, we do not have a flawless protagonist, and the death indicates the danger of a hidden agenda.

Harry becomes Radcliffe’s bodyguard. The scientist seems physically fine but does not remember anything about his abduction. When he is to give a talk about his area of expertise, he begins to repeat the same words over and over while we hear the sounds that were on the tape Harry discovered. So, we know that he has been brainwashed in a sort of The Manchurian Candidate manner. The scientist appeared healthy on the surface but was defective underneath, adding to the theme of appearances being deceptive.

More devious activity occurs when Harry spots a man smoking a pipe tailing him. Turns out the man is also a CIA agent (Thomas Baptiste) who is suspicious of Harry’s killing of one of his comrades. He says he will continue to follow him and if he concludes that Harry is crooked, he will kill him. These men operate outside the law. Dalby and Ross meet, and Dalby said he assigned Harry the task of exacting repayment from Bluejay for the selling of “damaged goods.” Ross believes that Radcliffe fits the pattern of many other scientists who no longer participate in scientific research. Both Dalby and Ross are cold emotionally as they decide to let Harry suffer his fate if the CIA agent decides to kill him.

The pipe-smoking CIA agent sees Harry talking to Bluejay, which makes Harry seem like he is conspiring with a kidnapper. What is on the surface in this film is not what it seems. At the office, Jock has been doing research, and he found something that discusses “Induction of Psychoneurosis by Conditioned Reflex Under Stress.” He prompts Harry to realize that IPCRESS is an acronym for this type of devious mental manipulation that the scientists have experienced.

The next scene finds Jock shot to death while driving Harry’s agency-issued car. Harry tells Jean that he believes the American agent thought it was Harry in the car and shot Jock. Maybe or maybe not, but in any case we have more false appearances. Jean suggests more hiding when she invites Harry to stay at her place for safety purposes. When Harry goes to his place to gather his belongings, it is obviously dark inside, until Harry turns on the light which reveals a deadly reality. The American agent lies dead on the floor. In Hitchcock fashion, someone is falsely setting Harry up as a guilty person.

Back at the office Harry finds that the IPCRESS file is missing. He calls Dalby to meet in person. He doesn’t trust talking on the phone because he knows that things have degenerated to the point that his world is under attack. When he meets Dalby he says Ross probably stole the file because he wanted him to microfilm it. Dalby says he will take care of the body in the apartment, but he will not protect Harry because he is too “hot.” The spy world exists in this film in the underbelly of society where it is callous and perilous.

Since Dalby told Harry to disappear, he plans on taking a train (not a safe place in these films as we have seen). After he leaves Jean’s apartment she calls Ross. We wonder now if even the woman he has become close to is a false ally. Another shot through a window shows a hand clearing the view of Harry on the platform. Danger seems to be lurking behind every supposedly safe corner.

Dalby tells Ross about the dead American agent in Harry’s flat. Ross says that there is a high casualty rate in Dalby’s department, to which Dalby says, “I wonder why?” Again, the sinister acts seem to anticipate Harry’s every move and the implication behind Dalby’s words is that he suspects Ross is behind the nasty business.

As suspected, Harry is abducted from the train. He is rendered unconscious, and when he wakes he finds himself in a cell. He has not been the only victim there because there are scratches on the wall, which suggests that his fate is not a positive one. He pries loose a metal clip from his cot and adds scratches to the wall which indicate he is there for several days. A captor looks through yet another peep hole, adding to the spy motif. Harry experiences cold. He has little food and drink, as he can’t touch the overheated cup in a revolving opening which tempts and then removes sustenance.

Grantby (Bleujay) is there saying they are in his home country of Albania, but at this point, can one trust anything someone says? Harry doesn’t have his glasses, and we see images through his eyes, and the blurring shows a distorted reality.

They don’t let Harry sleep and subject him to the loud, disorienting sound found on the IPCRESS tape. He experiences pulsing videos on all four walls in a room where he is bound in a chair. The purpose is to break his resistance so he will suffer the same fate as the scientists. After the bombarding sounds and images, lulling colors and sounds follow. Bluejay’s hypnotic voice tells Harry to forget about the IPCRESS file, and even his own name. The sense of one’s own identity is at risk in this totalitarian space.

Harry is clever and distracts the conditioning on him by using pain by rubbing his wrist against the leather restraints. They put padding on the restraints, but Harry uses the metal clip he secretly holds in his hand to create pain, an act of deception of his own. However, he can’t maintain his resistance and drops the bloody piece of metal in the conditioning room. Bluejay says when a voice says, “Now listen to me. Listen to me,” he is to obey that voice. Bluejay tries to set up Harry as the fall guy who killed agents and stole the IPCRESS file to be sold to his country’s enemies. Bluejay orders Harry not to remember any of this programming until he hears the voice.

Harry escapes, and in keeping with all the false information in the story, he is in London, not Albania. He calls Dalby. We find that it is Dalby who is the traitor as he has Bluejay with him. For Ross’s sake, Dalby had to pretend (more deception) that he was trying to find out about the problem with the scientists. Dalby tells Harry the triggering words and orders him to call Ross and tell him to meet him at the warehouse where he had been held, which has been abandoned by the IPCRESS team. (There is a red lampshade next to Dalby in this scene. As IMDb points out, Dalby is associated with red in many scenes. Other examples are: in the park, the military band members wear red outfits and play "The Thin Red Line", which Dalby likes; his sports car has a red interior; he stands next to firefighting equipment in the last scene, and there is a red bucket near him when we see he is the villain. Along with his sinister mustache, the film paints him as a devil figure, and red can associate him with the Soviet Union in existence at the time).

 Bluejay said he would have liked more sessions with Harry. So, when Dalby shows up at the warehouse, Harry is not conditioned enough to blindly follow his programming. He suspects Dalby as much as Ross. We see him now spying through an open door while he was the one being observed in the past, indicating that the situation has shifted. It is interesting that he tells Dalby to stand under the light. Yes, he wants to see him, but it also implies wanting to bring the truth out in the open. When Ross shows up, he disarms him and says he knows one of them is a traitor. He discovers that Jean was working for Ross, not Dalby, as we already know.

Dalby then uses the words, “Now listen to me,” and tells him to shoot Ross. Harry wavers, slams his hand against some movie projector equipment (interesting that this shot, in a movie, shows how film can be used for dangerous purposes). This act which breaks the trance, and he then shoots and kills Dalby as the man pulls out a gun. Harry is angry at Ross for using his insubordinate nature to reveal Dalby’s double-agent status. Ross’s response is, “That’s what you’re paid for.” Considering what a small sum that is, we see what little compensation Harry, the working-class spy, must settle for despite the perilous nature of the job.