There have been plenty of movies about people creating their perfect romantic partner. Weird Science gave us two horny teenagers and a computer-generated dream girl. Making Mr. Right offered a scientist and her artificially manufactured ideal man. Even Poor Things explored the wonderfully messy business of discovering (and making) love, sex, and independence.
But none of them, and I mean none, thought to weave the perfect husband out of wicker… well, there are the two The Wicker Man visits, but neither was particularly funny nor romantic. Leave it to Wicker, the gloriously eccentric new romantic comedy from writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, to remind us that sometimes the best man for the job is the one who comes with his own basket handle.
Set in a medieval village where conformity is practically a competitive sport, Wicker introduces us to Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman), a smelly, unmarried outcast whose daily existence involves catching fish, selling fish, and enduring the judgmental bullshit of people who apparently have nothing better to do. Everyone is named after their profession, which makes introductions refreshingly simple, even if the village's social customs are anything but. Marriage here is less a romantic partnership than a carefully arranged exercise in female submission. Fisherwoman, understandably, isn't buying it.
So she does something spectacularly rebellious. She commissions Basketweaver (Peter Dinklage) to construct her a husband from wood and wicker, intending to scandalize the village and expose the absurdity of its matrimonial traditions. What she gets, thanks to Basketweaver's mysterious connection with Mother Nature, is considerably more than an elaborate lawn ornament. Her new husband (Alexander Skarsgård... well, kind of Alexander Skarsgård ) is alive, articulate, sensitive, domestically gifted, and apparently blessed with certain “talents” that make the village's flesh-and-blood husbands look like defective merchandise.
And wouldn't you know it? Everybody wants a piece of him… quite literally.
What follows is a deliciously naughty collision of fairy-tale whimsy, romantic comedy, and social satire. Think The Shape of Water slipping into bed with The Princess Bride, with a little The Lobster watching disapprovingly from behind the curtain. Fischer and Wilson, adapting Ursula Wills-Jones's short story, create a wonderfully peculiar world where the ridiculous feels perfectly reasonable and the supposedly respectable villagers behave like absolute lunatics. The jokes are sharp, the sexual innuendo delightfully shameless, and the underlying observations about marriage, jealousy, and desire surprisingly perceptive.
Colman is magnificent. Of course she is. But what makes her performance especially wonderful is how effortlessly she moves between Fisherwoman's prickly defensiveness and the emotional vulnerability hiding beneath it. This is a woman who has survived loneliness by convincing herself she doesn't need anybody. Watching that protective armor gradually unravel is both hilarious and unexpectedly touching.
Dinklage brings earthy warmth and mischievous mystery to Basketweaver, while Skarsgård proves that even a man constructed from twigs can possess more charisma than an entire village of eligible bachelors. Weta Workshop's remarkable craftsmanship makes his wicker body a genuine marvel… simultaneously fantastical, strangely handsome, and completely believable.
Elizabeth Debicki and the supporting ensemble add deliciously judgmental energy to a community whose moral superiority crumbles the moment genuine happiness appears next door.
Yet beneath all the bawdy laughs and botanical bedroom gymnastics beats a genuine heart. Wicker understands that love isn't about being perfect. It's about finding someone who allows us to be ourselves.
Funny, filthy, tender, and wonderfully original, Wicker is an absolute delight. Who knew the year's most desirable romantic leading man would be biodegradable?
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 105 mins
Director: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson
Writer: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård; Olivia Colman; Richard E. Grant
Genre: Romance | Comedy
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "Without you, I would never have seen the sun over the ocean."
Distributor: Black Bear
Official Site:
Release Date: October 23, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: An ostracized fisherwoman commissions the local basketmaker to weave her a husband, but when her wicker creation proves unexpectedly extraordinary, his presence ignites jealousy and upheaval that threatens their quiet village.
