Wicker: Olivia Colman’s fisherwoman finds love with a wicker man in a bawdy autumn romp
Directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson bring a funny, fantastical tone to their adaptation of Ursula Wills’ folk-fable, but is there anything being said here other than “loners deserve happiness too”?
With The Favourite (2018), Yorgos Lanthimos found there was dramatic and comedic mileage in presenting Olivia Colman in period garb and centring her character’s desire for sexual satisfaction. Wicker – here grounded in a medieval village rather than Queen Anne’s palatial environs in the early 18th century – broadly repeats that focus with hilarious results, though the overall tone is akin to a bawdy British TV sit-com.
Colman stars as a lonely and – perhaps understandably given her vocation – smelly Fisherwoman so fed up with being the butt of the joke on the fringes of her small rural community that she enlists the industrious Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a husband. A month passes and Weaver delivers a strapping wicker man (Alexander Skarsgård, under a handmade bodysuit and mask) who marries and soon proves a hit with our Fisherwoman, gamely assisting in fixing her roof and meeting her needs to the extent the newly-weds bed soon needs repair work. The mood leans silly rather than sexy, with plenty of laughs derived from the mischievous sound design. If you’ve ever wondered what a wicker erection might sound like, this is the film for you.
Word about the happy couple’s bed-busting antics reaches the village and jealousy spreads among the women, who are unsatisfied by their human husbands. The local men are angry at being shown up by their wicker interloper. The Tailor’s Wife (a delightfully scheming Elizabeth Debicki) emerges as the most aggrieved of the women folk. She has some grim history with the Fisherwoman and as her resentment bubbles, she sets out to splinter the new relationship.
Writer-director pair Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson adapted Ursula Wills’ short 2006 story The Wicker Husband and, save for some savagery in the final act, keep things light and gently fantastical. There’s a host of familiar British TV and film faces in the supporting cast, with Richard E. Grant and Phil Daniels bringing some devilment to small roles. It has a cheerful, comforting feel that’s not too far removed from the spirit of a Carry On film. And that’s commendable, but is there anything being said other than “loners deserve happiness too”? Regardless, Colman, Skarsgård and Dinklage are as watchable as ever, with the latter almost as cunning here as in his indelible turn as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones (2011-2019). It’s warm, funny autumnal fare – just don’t look for too much depth.
► Wicker is in UK cinemas now.