The War of the Roses

The War of the Roses is a U.S. comedy film (1989) starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a couple in the midst of a bitter divorce, and Danny DeVito as their friend and lawyer. The film is based on the novel by Warren Adler (ISBN 1931304564).

In both the novel and the movie, the married couple's family name is Rose. At the same time, the title of the book/film alludes to the battles between the Houses of York and Lancaster at the end of the Middle Ages (see Wars of the Roses). Interestingly, in the German-speaking world, since the release of the movie the word Rosenkrieg (a literal translation of "War of the Roses") has come to denote such a bitter fight for material possessions (and maybe also for custody of the children) as depicted in the film, with most speakers completely unaware of the word's origins.