Olivia Colman plays a malodourous fisherwoman looking for love in an earthy, funny and surprisingly raunchy parable about small-minded patriarchy.
A “filthy declaration of fondness”: Alexander Skarsgård and Olivia Colman
Image courtesy of Black Bear Pictures.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
All the world’s desires, doubts, envy, distrust, lust and greed are crammed into one little village, which acts as a microcosm of all human life. Here, the populace have no names, but the title of their respective occupations, providing instantly recognisable labels, be they butcher, baker or basket maker. The fisherwoman, who catches her merchandise in a local river, smells of her wares and is roundly mocked for her odours, her tench deemed less fish than stench. She is also ridiculed for her status as a spinster living on her own on the outskirts of town. The Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki) declares that “there’s absolutely no shame in living out your remaining days alone,” but we know where her sentiments lie. So, one day, the Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) approaches the Basket Maker (Peter Dinklage) and asks him to weave her a husband, a challenge that he agrees to undertake. One full moon later, the imposing Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgård) turns up in the village asking to be clothed and shod in time for his nuptials the next day.
Apart from his tendency to creak as he moves, the Husband turns out to be a noble, loyal and handsome innocent who tends to his Wife’s every need, be it practical or sexual. As the marital bed is frequently broken during their nocturnal bouts of congress, his carpentry skills come in more than handy, an asset that is not lost on the town’s menfolk, who now have a role model to live up to, both around the house and in the bedroom. It seems that life in the village may never be quite the same again…
Often the best films are crafted from short stories and Wicker is a resounding case in point. Adapted by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson from Ursula Wills’ fable ‘The Wicker Husband’ , it is a handsomely fashioned allegory with a wicked glint in its eye and poetry in its heart. Like many films looming into the current awards season, Wicker has two directors at its helm, this one also scripted by the husband-and-wife team. Their previous feature, Save Yourselves! (2020), has been gaining audience traction since its modest release six years ago. A uniquely unsettling, chilling and funny piece of low-fi sci-fi, it, too, drew inspiration from the natural world, following a modern Brooklyn couple who decide to live off grid for a whole week. It really is worth seeking out.
Here, working with a substantially larger budget ($10 million), Fischer and Wilson have delivered a handsomely hewn tale enriched by ripe and imaginative dialogue, authentic rustic trappings and a truly international cast, bringing a genuine universality to their story. With a mix of British, American, Australian and Swedish actors giving the material their all, Wicker feels like it could be set anywhere at any time, in a society where the men just don’t try and their brides are forced to don metal collars on their wedding day. If you can imagine Chaucer blended with a dash of magic realism, you might get a sense of this original piece, superbly played by its co-producer Olivia Colman and by a particularly debonair Geppetto-like Peter Dinklage.
Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Elizabeth Debicki, Peter Dinklage, Marli Siu, Nabhaan Rizwan, Richard E. Grant, Phil Daniels, Gustav Lindh, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Emily Lloyd-Saini, Ben Ashenden, Ella Bruccoleri, Shobu Kapoor, Máté Mészáros, Abigél Szőke.
Dir Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, Pro Ed Sinclair, Tom Carver, Olivia Colman, Justin Lothrop, Brent Stiefel, Brad Zimmerman, David Michôd, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Ryan Heller and Michael Bloom, Screenplay Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, from Ursula Wills’ short story ‘The Wicker Husband’, Ph Lol Crawley, Pro Des Renátó Cseh, Ed Sofi Marshall, Music Anna Meredith, Costumes Tóth András Dániel and Godena-Juhász Attila, Sound Andy Neil, Dialect coach Hazel Holder.
Topic Studios/Tango Entertainment/Votiv/Yoki, Inc./South of the River Pictures-Black Bear Pictures.
105 mins. UK/USA/Australia/Hungary. 2026. UK and US Rel: 30 October 2026. Cert. 15.
