Its a confounding bit of cinema as it’s nearly impossible to describe 105 minutes of watching people fight as enjoyable…and yet, with Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch at it’s centre, it’s not entirely unpleasant, either.
Isn’t escapism one of the main reasons we go to cinemas, to forget our own troubles and enjoy the stylised lives of those on the giant screen?
THE ROSES offers no such salve from Australian writer Tony McNamara whose script has the two leads trade insults and barbs, sabotage each other’s livelihood and mutually destroy the gorgeous seaside mansion they’ve built together. Director Jay Roach tries to add humour with the presence of friends, Barry (Andy Samberg) and Amy( Kate McKinnon).
It’s akin to a tinderbox of resentments and competition under the facade of a picture perfect couple. Theo(Cumberbatch) and Ivy’s (Colman) ten-year marriage starts to fail when communication breaks down, and they find themselves at very different stages of life. When they first met, he was an architect tired of making dull London blocks of flats and she was a chef who felt her creativity was being held back in the kitchen. It was lust at first sight, and the duo moved to California to pursue their careers and raise two kids.
THE ROSES introduce us to a couple in the midst of a profane therapy session. They insult every personality trait possible, obliterating the way the other looks, loves and lives their lives. After the barrage of insults, the pair laugh as if bitter resentment is a totally normal way to interact with one’s spouse. The main source of Ivy’s and Theo’s problems is their opposing shift in career prospects. As his work life tanks, hers is on the rise.
Without losing the slapstick humour, THE ROSES has a lot to say about the guilt mother’s feel working away from home, men struggling when they’re not the breadwinners, and fathers feeling emasculated when taking on the childrearing roles. While the screenplay backs away before it gets too preachy and earnest, parents will likely see themselves in the arguments between the pair.
Cumberbatch and Colman make it believable, their jokes ricocheting off one another with delightful, rancorous buoyancy. As Theo, Cumberbatch has just enough edge; he doesn’t suffer fools, which is why he loves Ivy. Colman plays Ivy’s with bubbly vitality that can be great fun one minute and as explosive as a shaken champagne bottle the next.
THE ROSES is funny, but there’s something piercing about it too. We know these two are right for each other, for the long haul; why can’t they see it? But their problems are also so universal that watching them struggle is weirdly comforting.
The open-ended conclusion of THE ROSES may be the best thing about it. Ivy’s and Theo’s love will transcend time, even if it ends up tearing them apart.
Maybe don’t head out on date night to see this film.
