The War of the Roses 

The War of the Roses

The family bought the DVD for me for Father's Day. I'm the only one who sat through it all. I really enjoy it--especially the vicious ending. And I like the story that Danny DeVito fought for the "unhappy" ending, with studio people insisting there was a lot more money to be made with a happy one.

I believe the movie is based loosely on Martha Stewart's divorce. When they marry, they both take for granted that the man knows a lot more--about art, books, history, geography, you name it. She shows her virtue by being athletic and indeed dreamy in bed, and by being willing to learn. As time goes by, he continues to treat her the same way--as if she has really learned nothing. She naturally finds that this is getting extremely old, indeed repulsive.

As the violence escalates, it seems he is more or less sincere in saying he loves her (or his out of date image of her), whereas there is little doubt that she hates him. At the very end, as she dies, she even insists on getting his hand off her body. Does this make her a nastier person? I don't think so. He demonstrates that love can be suffocating and tyrannical, especially if it is based on notions which were dubious from the beginning (if she was so dumb, why was she lovable?), and are now an insult to her. Her rage seems quite natural, and he is completely unreasonable about the house. He is full of himself; he does have a way of applying his considerable intelligence to sucking up to his bosses; and as he gets older, he loses his sense of humour about these things. He is getting less attractive as a mate, she is getting more attractive as she builds her catering her business.

There is something natural about them killing each other--in a way, I think we end up rooting for this result.

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