Some films have aged over time, some have become more mature, and Witness for the Prosecution has become more mellow over time. "Prosecution Witness" was the first black-and-white film I watched, and I think it's one of the five most classic endings in film history, with suspense left to the last minute. After watching the film, I kept thinking back, throughout the litigation process, who was the winner?
(The following contains minor spoilers)
As a party to Wallais, is his account credible? Wallais has two main narratives, the first of which is the story of his meeting with the rich woman of Florence. In the narrative, Wallais neither knows nor cares about the rich woman's specific property, thus proving that he has no motive for killing. The second narrative is the romantic encounter between Wallais and his wife Christine in Hamburg, establishing the setting of the couple's love. How sweet the love between Wallais and Christine was at this point, how disgusted Christine was against his accusations in court. However, in both narratives, Wallais is the only narrator, no one but him knows what the truth is, and he has the opportunity to reshape the story. One can doubt his account, but one cannot directly overturn him. Like the end of "Young Pi Fantasy Drifting", Pie tells another version of the cruel story, but which story is true, people can only guess.
The main conflict in the film comes from Christine, who sees the deep love and stupid love. The love between husband and wife in Wallais's story is like honey, but Christine's first appearance has a sense of complexity, and the woman hides too many secrets. What she did was completely inconsistent with the loving couple described by Wallais, who should have tried to clear her husband's name, but she spoke specious testimony that led the charges to her husband everywhere, saying that her current testimony was that Wallais had made her say so, frantically implying that Wallais was a murderer. And reveals that she does not love Wallais, and is not Wallais's wife, she is only grateful that Wallais took her from Germany to England and live a good life, but without love.
During the trial, Christine unexpectedly appeared as a prosecution witness, accusing her husband of murdering the rich woman. The jury, who had long been disgusted by her lawyers for revealing that she was trying to get together with her lover, was even more disgusted with her because her actions were contrary to common sense and conjugal ethics. The jury, under the negative influence of Christine, tried Wallais not guilty, and the trial ended.
The lawyer finally exclaimed: it turned out that the clown was himself. After Wallais was acquitted, Kristen pulled up the hair on the right side of her hand and said, "Do you want to kiss me, baby?" "Unravel the mystery. It turned out that all this was a bureau that helped Walley exonerate, Kristen as a witness in the prosecution room accused her husband of murder, and then the defense lawyer exposed her lies. In order to win the case, the defense lawyer fully believed in Christine's motives and actions, leading the jury to believe Wallais's innocence, and even no longer considered whether Wallais really killed people, but whether Christine planted stolen goods for Wallais. The defense lawyer thought that he would turn the tide in the trial and do justice for Wallais, but he did not know that he was completely swayed by Christine's performance. When he heard Kristin say, "I know he's guilty," the whole person collapsed in an instant, and he didn't expect to be pecked by an eagle after playing all his life.
The ending of the film is beyond, Wallais can escape the punishment of the law, but can not escape the moral trial, the film gives compensation for the lack of emotion in reality, the film gives imaginary satisfaction and solution, and does not let us face the prisoners who have escaped legal punishment in the real society.
There is not a single winner in the entire film, and everyone involved in this event is a loser. Defense lawyers used their skillful debating skills in court to mislead the jury, release the murderer Wallais, trample on the law, and tear open cracks for later criminals to escape justice. Because of love, Christine defended Wallais by perjury, helped the devil to escape, but did not know that his lover was sexual, and had long been prepared to fly with other women, because of love and hatred, he killed Wallais, and he also faced the death penalty; Warley murdered Lady French, took advantage of the loophole in the court trial, regained his freedom, and because of his own affair, he was stabbed to death by Christine, who loved him deeply, and deserved it. All are losers, no one loses to the system, all lose to humanity.
Christine finally paid close attention to the outcome of the trial, and finally relaxed after hearing that Wallais had been acquitted. And in the Korean movie "Client", "Remember, he is the only one who has not looked back", only through the looks and actions of the key characters, the suspense of the entire film is upgraded again.