'Wicker' is More Than Just a Woven Pair of Abs
For centuries, women have been falling in love with creatures who are far from human (see: Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula and even the titular Beast in the classic fairytale). The viability of the tradition was last reinforced with Guillermo del Toro’s Best Picture winner The Shape of Water (2017). Almost a decade later, Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson (Save Yourselves! [2020]) have added Wicker to the mix, creating a romantic fantasy involving what is quite literally a living, breathing(?), well-endowed basket.
Adapted from Ursula Wills’ fable-like short story “The Wicker Husband,” the film centers around the Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman), an English villager who is immediately set up as a caricature of “undesirable” female traits. Townspeople vehemently hurl insults at her, commenting on her hygiene, appearance and deep-set insecurities, some of which I doubt even Regina George could fathom.
So, after winning the village’s equivalent of catching the bouquet at a wedding, she decides to ask The Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) to fashion her a husband.
Wicker does not shy away from modern-day monster romance tropes. A common theme across all these tales is that society perceives there to be something “wrong” with the female protagonist, which leads her to isolation from love. This is, of course, what draws them to whatever creature that she falls madly in love with.
Wicker, however, in exploring all the possibilities of its naughty Grimm’s Fairy Tale-esque plot, tackles many more of these stigmas than other adaptations previously portrayed. I saw the main trailer for this movie nearly every time I visited the theater over the past few months, which set up the story to be largely a smutty, good-time monster romance – and it fulfills that in many ways.
Mr. Wicker (Alexander Skarsgård) is shown to be a more-than-competent lover after his marriage to the Fisherwoman. The rickety bed is broken (and promptly fixed) many times, and the Fisherwoman’s screaming orgasms awaken villagers throughout the town, with one even fearing that “someone has been murdered.” In case you were curious, yes there is a full-frontal shot of Mr. Wicker. I still don’t quite understand the logistics of it all – nor is it ever explained – but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it in this review. Mr. Wicker’s sexual competency is far from his only appeal as a husband, though.
He’s quick to complete improvements to the Fisherwoman’s decrepit cottage, fixing the leak in the roof, the door that’s falling off its hinges, and he starts a garden outside. As he’s slowly introduced to the other townspeople, they begin to take notice of his capabilities as a handyman. The cultural norms and traditions espoused in the town are nothing less than pure patriarchy: women are affixed with large wrought iron collars during their marriage vows, and are referred to as “The Baker’s Wife” or “The Doctor’s Daughter” accordingly. Their only roles are to birth children, and then take care of said children, with their respective husbands doing the absolute bare minimum to keep them around.
A pivotal moment in the film sees one of the wives approaching Mr. Wicker to ask him to dance (in jest, to humiliate the Fisherwoman). However, she ends up walking away in a puddle of tears after she overhears him telling the Fisherwoman that he “lives for her.” His sweeping statements of love and genuine devotion to the Fisherwoman – along with his woven abs – prove to cause extreme discontent among the women of the town. This reveals one of the film’s deeper probes into women’s sense of worthiness. It has been so ingrained that these women have to accept less than they deserve, that a husband providing real unconditional love to his wife is too much for them to handle.
What starts as a sensual romance between two ostracized characters thus develops into a sensitive story about the universal deservingness of unique love, reflecting modern day struggles within patriarchal society. I’m sure we’ve all had a friend who starts dating a new guy and suddenly starts to lose herself, becoming more and more a reflection of him and his values. The villagers found it horrifying that the Fisherwoman was the one “providing” in their relationship through her work, and yet that never once got in the way of her and Mr. Wicker’s marriage. Their love broke through the bounds of expectation: the Fisherwoman’s refusal to submit to expectations is the key defiant act of the film.
Admittedly, there’s a slight air of predictability to Wicker that makes it fall flat at times, but it’s offset by bizarre and delightful performances from its main and supporting casts. Peter Dinklage is the perfect level of strange as the Basket Weaver, and Elizabeth Debicki’s cold, unflinching demeanor makes The Tailor’s Wife a truly frightening bully.
If nothing else, the lush autumnal scenery and immersive sound design (I’d like to personally thank whoever chose the sound effect for Mr. Wicker’s erections) make Wicker a highly congenial and equally empowering fairy tale to put on at 10 pm, when you and your friends have had two-too-many glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. When all is said and done, everyone deserves their own Mr. Wicker, who sees you for who you truly are, and loves you despite it all.
Wicker is now playing in theaters.
- Emma
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