Love is one of the most confusing feelings there is. At one point you want to be with someone forever and at another you want to never see that same person again. And no movie I’ve seen, in recent memory, captures the latter effect quite like The Roses, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman.
The film starts out with Theo, played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Ivy, played by Olivia Coleman, in couples therapy, insulting each other instead of doing the assigned task of stating what they love about one another. However, they don’t get offended by each other’s insults. Instead, they laugh, sharing a genuine moment of togetherness born from the underlying hatred they hold for the other. This sets the tone pretty well for how the couple will interact throughout the film. Multiple times Theo and Ivy seem to rekindle their love even after a big blow-out fight with each other.
A flashback showes how Theo and Ivy got to couples therapy in the first place. Theo was an architect who got fired because one of his buildings collapsed during a big storm. Ivy is a chef who went from having a small crowd to becoming a very successful small business, thanks to one positive review. These are the inciting incidents of the film, allowing for the relationship to shift greatly in a way that upsets Theo. His wife is now more successful than him which allows for his insecurities to show. Ivy, on the other hand, gets sucked into her restaurant and sees her children less and less.
These events start a domino effect of hatred and disagreement. Ivy doesn’t like how Theo is raising the kids to be health nuts. While Theo is jealous of Ivy’s sudden rise to chain restaurant and feels underappreciated. This is brought to the main couples’ attention by their friends who are portrayed by Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon. Once they learn they might actually hate each other, they try to figure out how to stop. They vacation to New York, which fails. Theo gets drunk on the plane and Ivy spends the night out alone and misses their planned dinner. Ivy recruits Theo to build a new house for them, which is designed greatly, but allows for tensions to rise even further. This results in a disastrous dinner with passive-aggressive insults and cake being thrown throughout their home. This couple can’t be healed. The simplest thing for them to do is go their separate ways and focus on fixing themselves. However, that would not make for an entertaining movie. The constant exaggeration of how they spite each other allows for the movie to constantly feel fresh. Even though the audience realizes Theo and Ivy do not like each other before they realize. This is why the film works. Love is hard, especially when it is not there. If only Theo and Ivy realized this sooner.
