Plot: An audacious comedic fable about sex, marriage, and the absurdities of social convention, WICKER tells the wholly original love story of an ostracized fisherwoman who commissions a husband to be made by the local basketmaker. When her wicker husband proves more spectacular than she ever imagined, his soulful spirit and unique prowess awaken something inside her, setting off a wave of jealousy, fascination, and upheaval that threatens the very fabric of village life.
Review: The unabashed weirdness of the trailer for Wicker immediately drew me in. Forget the fact that Alexander Skarsgård and Olivia Colman can do no wrong, but a weird fantasy about a woman having sex with a wicker man come to life is just too strangely original to not demand you watch it. The trailers really make the movie look like it is going to be a nonstop erotic sexcapade comedy, but it is so much more. Rooted in the structure of fairy tales and fables, Wicker is a moralistic story about everything from relationships to gossip to peer pressure. Featuring great supporting turns from Elizabeth Debicki, Peter Dinklage, and Richard E. Grant, Wicker is the sexiest, funniest, and timeliest romance of the year.
Set in an unnamed English town hundreds of years ago, Wicker follows the strange farming community where nobody is referred to by their name, but rather by their role in the community. The town has very strict practices in how people get married and the reasons why. Overseen by Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki), the de facto mayor and daughter of Doctor (Richard E. Grant), the movie opens with the celebration of Tailor’s Wife’s Sister’s (Marli Siu) wedding to Bottle Washer (Gustav Lindh). Having come to market, the Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) chats up Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) before the ceremony concludes with the opening of special eggs that symbolize which virgin will get married next. Fisherwoman opens the lucky egg and experiences mockery from the townspeople. Deciding to get back at them, she commissions a husband from Basket Weaver. One month later, Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgard) arrives. What follows is nonstop sex between the newlyweds which shocks the town while also making them curious about Wicker Husband’s physical prowess.
As gossip and rumors spread about Wicker Husband, Fisherwoman enjoys her marital bliss. But, slowly she begins to grow paranoid about what everyone says about her and her bespoke spouse. Wicker Husband has only eyes for Fisherwoman, but the pit of anxiety grows and the town transforms from a quaint village into a cesspool of jealousy, Wicker is absolutely rooted in comedy and plays the erotic angle perfectly as the villagers frankly and graphically discuss sex and what they image happens between Fisherwoman and her husband, but the film is more than just jokes and humor. I was pleasantly surprised to find that while Olivia Colman plays up her comedic skills, Wicker is full of serious moments. The film does not shift heavily from one tone to the next, but balances a range of tones and emotions just like traditional fairy tales. There is a dose of folk horror to the story that works naturally alongside the period setting. Alexander Skarsgard plays Wicker Husband in a level, almost wooden performance that echoes Frankenstein crossed with The Wicker Man.
Wicker is loaded with great performances from top to bottom. Elizabeth Debicki is great as the equivalent of the wicked stepmother or evil queen character. The townsfolk are played by an array of talented comedic performers including Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Ben Ashenden, Ella Bruccoleri, and Nabhaan Rizwan who all lean into the sheer strangeness of the story but play it as if it is completely believable that a living man made of sticks exists in their town. The chemistry between Colman and Skarsgard is central to the story with the wicker make-up serving as some of the best visual effects of the year. Olivia Colman has played characters like Fisherwoman before, notably in 2023’s Wicked Little Letters, but her brilliant control in portraying shunned and overlooked protagonists is perfect here. Peter Dinklage is reliably great as the wise and magical character who guides the story and anchors the brilliant ending that drives home the moral of this story.
Based on the short story “The Wicker Husband” by Ursula Willis, Wicker was adapted and directed by Alex Houston Fisher and Eleanor Wilson who previously directed the sci-fi comedy Save Yourselves!. Filmed in Budapest, Wicker is a smale scale production that does not venture outside of the confines of the rural community but invests heavily in the effects needed to make the Wicker Husband look like a surreal yet tangible creation. Broken into chapters, the film truly feels like a medieval fable brought to life through Lol Crowley’s naturalistic cinematography. Composer Anna Meredith (Tuesday) created a spritely soundtrack that feels at home in the ancient European setting while nicely adding to the romance, comedy, and darkness of the narrative. There is something about the way Wicker looks that feels both new and fresh as well as allowing it to feel timeless.
Wicker is a wonderfully strange combination of genres that I bought into from the outset. It lives up to the sexy and erotic teases in the trailer without being explicit. This is definitely not for kids but works as a cautionary tale with a moral that everyone can appreciate. How this movie ends caught me off guard and worked so much better than I could have hoped. Alexander Skarsgard lives up to his family’s excellence at transforming on screen while Olivia Colman adds another fantastic performance to her credit. Wicker is a film that many will think is not for them, but they are missing out on seeing one of the most original movies in a long time. Wicker is sexy, strange, and scary but also emotionally charged and timely in an era where gossiping villagers in a medieval community don’t feel very different from the social media trolls that surround us.
Wicker opens in theaters on October 23rd.
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