Fracture

Fracture is a legal/crime film, released in 2007 and directed by Gregory Hoblit. It stars Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, the main characters are Theodore Crawford and William Beachum, respectively. The film revolves around a murder and its trial, and what begins as an ordinary, everyday trial, soon turns into a battle of wits between the two.

The character Ted Crawford is an affluent structural engineer, who soon discovers that his wife, Jennifer, played by Embeth Davitz, is having an affair with detective, Robert Nunally, who is played by Billy Burke. During the beginning of the film, Ted visits the hotel in which Jennifer and her partner have been staying. He then proceeds to their room, and searches for Detective Nunally’s weapon. This detail plays a vital role in the film. After picking up the weapon for close inspection, he places it back, and then returns home. As he sits, waiting patiently for his wife to arrive, he hears the gates of his house open. When Jennifer walks in, they chat casually. Soon after, Ted draws his gun, and shoots his wife in the head, seriously wounding her. The police soon arrive, including Detective Nunally, oblivious of the fact that his partner is the victim. When he walks in, they both agree to place their guns on a table. Nunally then runs over and realises that it is Jennifer, in this moment of distraction, Ted, swaps the guns, and confesses.

William Beachum is the prosecuting attorney in Crawford’s trial. Before the trial, we are told that he has been offered a job at a prestigious firm, and that it is his final week. As he packs up his possessions from his office, he receives a call from someone asking him to appear at court, and promising that it is a straightforward case, that wouldn’t require much time. Also, he informs William that there is a written confession. However, what he fails to mention, is that the confession was made during an interrogation, in the presence of Detective Nunally. This results into the confession being invalid as evidence. Due to Nunally assaulting him previously, at the time of arrest, the court recognises this as a “fruit from the poisonous tree”, a legal terminology to describe tainted evidence. At this moment, William’s job offer is at stake, due to the fact that Ted had been representing himself, without the possession of any sort of legal experience. This is seen as disgraceful and it motivates William to pursue a solution.

At the last hearing, the judge questions William for any further evidence. However, William has been unable to attain any evidence, especially since the court had been told that Ted’s gun had never been fired. William then loses the case and the court finds in favour of Ted and he walks free. Moments after the verdict, Nunally commits suicide outside the courtroom using his gun. William loses his job offer and reaches to a point of paranoia, because he blames himself for letting Ted get away. Ted then visits his wife at hospital, and gazes at her while she remains in a deep coma. He then decides to pull the plug, resulting in her death. Still in the pursuit of new evidence, William visits the police station, and in a scene involving an identical phone to William, he has a sudden realisation. He figures out that Ted had swapped guns after shooting Jennifer, and that Nunally had in fact been carrying the crucial evidence, all along. After his realisation, William confronts Ted at his home, and Ted reacts calmly, saying he cannot be convicted due to “double jeopardy” meaning he can’t be tried for the same criminal offence, based on the same facts. However, William corrects him, and informs him that he had been previously tried for attempted murder, however, when Ted decided to pull the plug, it had been recognised as murder, resulting in a new case. The last scene shows Ted in a courtroom, however, this time, he is surrounded by lawyers for his defence.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I regard this movie as one of my favourites. However, the part I enjoyed the most, was the witty manipulation and deceitfulness performed by both sides. It allows you to get involved in the movie, and gets your mind thinking about all the different aspects, and thinking you can solve it for yourself. I would definitely recommend this to everyone. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed my talk.