The War of the Roses

As a cautionary tale, Washington D.C.-based divorce lawyer Gavin D'Amato tells a potential new client the story of Oliver and Barbara Rose. They fell in love at first sight when they were both poor college students--he on scholarship at Harvard Law, and she on a gymnastics scholarship at Madison--meeting by chance at an auction when they were both bidding on the same art piece. Through the early part of their marriage, both seemed to be striving for the same thing: prestige and the image of perfection, coming at it from two different directions. Oliver, the breadwinner, did everything he could to impress his bosses to make partner to make more and more money, while Barbara spent that money creating what they both considered the perfect showcase home. She had stumbled upon and bought it relatively inexpensively on a white lite. After ostensibly making it the perfect home and becoming empty-nesters with their two children going off to college, Barbara realizes that she has lost any sense of herself and largely blames this on Oliver, who is oblivious to her unhappiness--until she asks for a divorce. Both are unwilling to give up the house, the symbol of that prestige and perfection, in the divorce settlement. Both are living in the house during the divorce proceedings, with both their children, when home, and their housekeeper, Susan, being pawns and potential collateral damage in each doing whatever to get the other to leave and give up the house in the settlement.