Wicker is the newest film from directing partners Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer, following on from their 2020 film Save Yourselves! Wicker is an adaptation of The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills, a 14 page novella which transports us to rural England where a fisherwoman marries a wicker man.
The film had its world premiere sundance film festival back in January and has since travelled around mant festivals across the globe. Last week was the UK’s turn with its red carpet premiere last Thursday alongside playing multiple times throughout the festival.
The film begins as you would expect after watching the trailer, Olivia Colman’s fisherwoman lives alone secluded from the other villagers, only seeing them on market days when she tries to sell her fish. It did feel as though we had seen much of this portion of the story through the trailer, and so didn’t feel new, however, after watching the full film it’s a suitable beginning for the story. Olivia Colman was amazing in this role – not that we would expect less – as she played the role leading with raw emotions and guided us through this film beautifully.
I was struck by the set design throughout this film as it felt somehow mythical and something out of a fairytale whilst still being grounded in the realities of the English countryside. This helped to set the tone of the film straight away, as of course it is mythical as a man is made of wicker, but it is also a story of love and connection, something we have all watched before.
Fisherwomen goes to the basketmaker with a plea for a husband late into the first act, with him agreeing almost instantly. Once finished, the pair meet at the chapel to be wed, this is our first sight of Alexander Skarsgard as Wicker’s husband, and it is quite the feat. It is overwhelmingly impressive the craft that went into the wicker suit made for this film as it was done entirely practically with a literal wooden suit alongside makeup and prosthetics. This became a somewhat unsettling and hyper realistic look, counteracted by skarsgard’s performance being warm and gentle playing the doting, perfect husband. He didn’t tend to have a whole load of dialogue in the film, and so much was left to body language and expressions, and he played this well creating an entire person without saying more than a few lines at a time.
The film then progressed into a steamy romance, with Colman and Skarsgard breaking the bed multiple times, this portion of the film was, again, as expected from the trailer, however, became one of the key factors in the building connection between the pair as they continued to get to know each other. I appreciated the care taken in these scenes for them to have purpose within the film as opposed to being time fillers as it helped to create a fully rounded picture of the pair and their relationship with one another.
Of course, every film must have its tension points and wicker’s is the other villagers. As the jealousy amongst them begins to bubble with Elizabeth Debicki’s Tailorwoman leading the charge as they realise that couple do not partake in gender norms of a relationship, with the fisherwoman working and providing for the pair, whilst wicker husband tends to the home – oftentimes fixing the bed. This sends the traditionalist village into a spiral, where even people’s names assign their identity in society. This felt like a really nice, natural progression for the characters with the heat slowly building until it reaches its head as they mock the couple mercilessly at every chance possible, forcing a divide between the two.
This film’s biggest strength is its ending when everything comes to a head – the fisherwoman sets her husband alight, the basketmaker retires and then they all ride off into the distance together. The acting within the film’s third act from the entire cast was exceptional, especially Olivia Colman, as they all created their own individual tensions with each other whilst equally coming together as a group to try to oust the fisherwoman, and then creating new friction when bidding on the wickerwoman with retirement gifts for the basketman.
The film was overall outstanding and much of its success has to be down to its script, in a world where we mostly are presented with remakes and sequels, this film was entirely new, with no references I am able to pull from prior films. That is quite the feat in itself, to have done that immensely successfully is on another level of talent.
A fresh film with equal parts heart and tension alongside its fairytale-like quality, this film begs to be watched by many, and has defied any expectation I had walking into the cinema to watch it.
Wicker is released in UK cinemas October 23rd
