Torres - Presumed Innocent

Throughout Presumed Innocent there is ambiguity as to who is guilty. Guilt takes on an interesting role in the film, as in the end it shows that although Rusty is not guilty of murder, he is still guilty. After Rusty was acquitted of the murder, he is at home working outside when he comes across a small hatchet with blood and hair fibers on it and realizes that they are Carolyn Polhemus's. When he confronts his wife she appears somewhat demented, referring to herself in the third person (similar to the way Rusty would reenact criminal motives and events in the courtroom). Barbara confesses that, following his affair, she fell into a state of depression and even considered suicide before deciding that it would be better to "destroy the destroyer," Polhemus. She tells him why she felt that she had to kill Carolyn and how she did it. She had bought glasses similar to some Carolyn had and got Rusty's fingerprints on them and saved his sperm in a freezer after they had had sex. After killing Carolyn , Barbara set up other evidence in order to make it look like a man attacked and raped her, making it seem as though someone who she had put away had come back for revenge. She claims that she did not actually intend to frame her husband and did not anticipate he would be charged with the murder; she assumed that he would realize it was her and file it under unsolved cases. After hearing this, Rusty cannot bring himself to turn her in; he cannot bring himself to separate his son from his mother. In a final voice-over he says that the murder of Carolyn Polhemus has been written off as unsolved, though he still feels guilt over his role in causing her death. Although he did not murder Carolyn , it was his affair with her that caused his wife to murder her. This final scene is very important to the movie because it explains to the audience why Rusty has been displaying so much guilt throughout the film; he knew that having an affair was wrong and he regrets it, but now he is forced to live with the fact that his mistake led his wife to murder.