THE BITTER END

‘The Roses’: Watch Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman Go to War

Mommy and Daddy are fighting.

In marriage, love can turn to loathing faster than you can say “I do.” Just ask Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch in The Roses, a reimagining of the hit 1989 War of the Roses film starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

The first trailer for the dark romantic comedy just dropped, following Ivy (Colman) and Theo (Cumberbatch), a couple whose marriage seems picture-picture from the outside. But when Ivy’s career takes off right as Theo’s tanks, the couple’s unresolved resentments soon spiral out of control, turning their once “perfect” relationship into an all-out divorce war.

“Sometimes he’s got his c--- in me, and I can’t even tell,” Ivy quips at a dinner party in the trailer, casually destroying Theo’s male ego in front of their entire group of friends.

Directed by Jay Roach, stars Colman and Cumberbatch, along with comedy super stars Kate McKinnon, Allison Janney, Andy Samberg, and Ncuti Gatwa.

In a Vanity Fair preview, Cumberbatch and Colman talk about their characters’ toxic unraveling and why this film might hit close to home for married viewers.

“The film is a parable of two people who loved each other intensely, then ended up hating each other intensely and missing the middle ground. Much of it is shockingly recognizable: how we struggle to show love toward the people we love the most, and how this can all go wrong very quickly if we’re not careful about nurturing and nourishing the relationships at the center of our families,” Cumberbatch said.

The Roses hits theaters Aug. 23, promising to turn “til death do us part” into less of a vow and more of a threat.

Clare DonaldsonEditorial Intern

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