Is there ever really a winner in the mother of all battles?

Thriller ‘The Girlfriend’ zeroes in on the fraught relationship between girlfriend and mother-in-law. Lydia Spencer-Elliott talks to those in the thick of family drama to find out more

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Sharing can be difficult - especially when it’s sharing the man you love with another woman. And perhaps no one knows this better than mothers and their daughters-in-law, who have historically butted heads to epic proportions. Big celebrations, like birthdays or Christmas, can often spark conflict over who gets to host the festivities. Meanwhile, landmark life events – weddings, babies – may trigger fallings out so severe that they take months, or even years, to recover from. In popular culture most recently: Victoria Beckham allegedly leaving her son Brooklyn Beckham’s wife Nicola Peltz “in tears” after hijacking the couple’s first dance. Rough, if true.

Last year, a YouGov survey found that almost a third of women have “quarrelled” with their mother-in-law at some point in their relationship. Meanwhile, separate research found that 60 per cent of women admitted the relationship with their female in-law caused them long-term unhappiness and stress. This familial power struggle is explored in the forthcoming adaptation of Michelle Frances’s psychological thriller The Girlfriend, which follows wealthy woman Laura (Robin Wright) as she grows suspicious of her son’s new partner Cherry (Olivia Cooke), who she fears has a manipulative, dishonest streak.