Spoilers ahead for “Wicker” starring Olivia Colman Alexander Skarsgård.
When the trailer for “Wicker” was released, the internet was thirsty for Alexander Skarsgård’s willowy leading man. That’s because the NSFW teaser featured the actor getting down and dirty and breaking beds with Olivia Colman, much to the shock of the townspeople and viewers.
But the film is much more than a satirical comedy about sex with an extremely handsome straw man. Instead, it shows the closeness, vulnerability, and trust needed to open one’s heart to love. Its emotional ending proves that despite marital difficulties and the noise outside, love conquers all.
“It’s funny and irreverent, but it’s a beautiful love story set in a fantasy world created by our writers and directors, Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, with their incredible collaborators,” Skarsgård tells TODAY.com. “But there is a lot of social commentary about patriarchy, social hierarchy and the institution of marriage, but it does so with a very light touch.”
What Is ‘The Wicker’ About?
“Wicker” now stars Colman as an independent but lonely Fisherwoman who is constantly ostracized by the villagers. When asked if he has “found a lover” he says: “Love seems more like a burden than a reward.”
But when the Fisherwoman changes her mind, she asks the local Basket Maker (Peter Dinklage) to make her a husband. The willow wicker man, with his broad shoulders, strong arms and incredible presence, is “gentle-spoken and fiercely loyal.” This is how author Ursula Wills describes him in her short story “The Wicker Husband”, which forms the basis of the film.
“I love him and admire him,” Colman tells TODAY.com from his character. “He has strengths in his solitude, he has a strength of his own and he’s wonderful. But he has armor. He’s been mocked all his life and he ignores it, which is admirable. But at some point he said, ‘Enough is enough. I’ll have the last laugh.'”
What the Fisherwoman doesn’t realize, Colman says, is that she’s “going to fall in love.”
Love Changes Everything for the Pisces Woman
This journey shakes the Fisherwoman and the townspeople to their core. As she opens herself up to love – “it’s so scary to do that,” she says – she also becomes subject to more scrutiny and jealousy from those around her.
“Isn’t it lust in the beginning?” Colman talks about the early relationship between the Fisherwoman and her Wicker Husband, adding that her character eventually “falls in love with someone wonderful.”
“They learn love together,” he says.
To showcase the Fisherwoman’s journey, Skarsgård unearths one of the most heartfelt quotes in the film.
“The fisherman says to the Wicker Husband, ‘You have my heart now,’ and that’s what’s scary about it. Your heart is in someone else’s hands and your happiness is in their hands,” Skarsgård says. “There’s a lot of beauty in that, but it’s also scary because you know you might get hurt.”
Colman, who has lived alone all her life, says the Fisherwoman’s relationship with the Wicker Husband turned from lust to love when she realized he was someone she could trust.
The turning point begins one morning, after a night of enjoying their marriage, when Wicker Husband says, “The bed is broken. Bring me a hammer. I’ll fix it.”
Colman says, “Their days are better when they are together. Instead of taking things from each other, they build each other up.”
How Does ‘The Wicker’ End?
However, their marriage makes the townspeople distrustful and question their own marriage. The women see how the Wicker Husband is attentive, caring, and does his best to make the Fisherwoman’s life better. Husbands feel threatened and angry for highlighting their own mistakes to the Wicker Husband.
Their relationship annoys the Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki) the most. The town’s queen bee, the Tailor’s Wife seemingly has it all: a hard-working husband and wonderful children. But she’s a housewife with dreams of having her own identity.
He is jealous of the Pisces Woman’s independence and having a supportive partner. When her sister’s husband dies and the young widow asks the Basketmaker to knit a doll for her, the Tailor’s Wife devises a plan to separate the Fisherwoman and the Wicker Husband.
The Tailor’s Wife implies that the Wicker Husband is unfaithful. The Fisher Woman gets caught up in lies and rumors, and when she sees the Straw Doll, she goes crazy. She believes that her devoted husband betrayed her, but he did not.
“Grief is the price we pay for love. So unfortunately, if you love deeply, you’re going to feel terrible when it doesn’t happen,” says Colman. “But do you ever say no to love in the first place? I wouldn’t. It’s a scary leap of faith, but worth taking.”
What happens next shows the audience how much easier it is to believe in good than in bad, which is one of the themes of the film. The Fisherwoman opens fire on her vulnerable partner, who escapes in flames.
“Definitely not his finest hour,” Colman jokes.
Heartbroken, he tries to continue his life as before. But love changed him, and losing that love devastated him.
When the Basketmaker finds a Wicker Husband in the forest, badly burned and almost destroyed, he repairs it. Meanwhile, the Tailor’s Wife’s Sister had a mental breakdown and abandoned her Straw Doll, only to be found by the Fisher Woman.
When the Basketmaker sees the Fisherwoman, she reminds him that Straw Husbands cannot have Straw Babies and implies that his doting wife is not cheating.
Finally, as an act of revenge, the Basketmaker shakes up the town by offering a Wicker Wife to the highest bidder. The villagers show their true and disgusting colors by showing the artisans how much effort they will go to have their own useful companions. However, the Wicker Snow is made of blackthorn, a thorny shrub, and the unlucky winner appears to be mutilated by her new lover when he goes in for a kiss.
The Fisher Woman is reunited with her Wicker Husband, who reminds her that he is the only one for her. They decide to leave the town with the Straw Baby they adopted and start a new life together, away from the spiteful people of the town.