Greetings again from the darkness. The husband and wife co-directing and co-writing team of Alex Huston-Fischer and Eleanor Wilson have delivered the pleasant surprise film of the year. It’s based on the 2008 short story, “The Wicker Husband”, written by Ursula Willis-Jones and it manages to be thoroughly entertaining while poking around into human psychology.
Oscar winner and actor-extraordinaire Olivia Colman stars as Fisherwoman. All folks in the village are known by their job or lot in life. No actual names are used. So, when I say Mrs. Tailor (Elizabeth Debicki, TENET, 2020) is the villain of the story, you immediately know what her husband does for a living. Fisherwoman, a disheveled and unkempt woman, not only lives a life of solitude, but she also is subjected to a relentless stream of cruel comments from those in the village. At the Bottlewasher’s wedding, a local custom involves not a bouquet, but rather shaken wicker eggs to determine the next bride-to-be. The magic egg rolls to Fisherwoman.
After absorbing the expected wisecracks and put-downs, she heads to the remote home of the mystical master Basketweaver (Peter Dinklage), and promptly orders ‘a husband’. One month later she is giddy at the altar as she and the Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgard) recite their vows. Wedding night exertions leave their bed in need of repair, and Wicker Husband simply asks for a hammer so that he may fix the bed … a task he performs numerous times.
Fisherwoman and Wicker Husband develop a bond, and the entire village takes note when they share a dance at the Butcher’s wedding (lots of weddings for a small village). Love and respect within a marriage are admirable and necessary traits, but what we soon witness is the opposite end of human traits: jealousy, distrust, feelings of inadequacy, and a desire for comeuppance. By simply asking the question, “Do you love your wife?”, the Wicker Husband establishes himself as a noble creature, and that’s more than others can bear.
The film presents as brilliant social satire in the form of a fable, replete with romance and villainy. Although it’s set in a long ago small rural village, we immediately recognize the personality types and signs of emotions (good and bad). The acting here is superb. Olivia Colman delivers yet another performance that somehow stuns us. Peter Dinklage goes ‘Shakespearian’ and shines while working alone in his workshop. Richard E Grant jolts us as the bumbling town doctor in his only scene, and Alexander Skarsgard is totally believable as the object of desire buried under a spectacular skin of wicker.
As if the acting and story aren’t impressive enough, the technical aspects are superb. The wicker sound effects are familiar and spot on, while Weta Workshop’s prosthetic designer Joe Dunckley and lead makeup effects artist Sarah Rubano knock it out of the park on the wicker suit(s) and effects. Production designer Renato Cseh delivers an authentic feel to the village, while Oscar winning cinematographer Lol Crawley’s (THE BRUTALIST, 2024) work has been accurately described as folk art. This is surely a strange movie, yet it’s one that will grow an audience.
The film opens in theaters beginning October 23, 2026
