- Director: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson
- Screenplay: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson
- Based on: ‘The Wicker Husband‘ by Ursula Wills
- Producer: Ed Sinclair, Tom Carver, Olivia Colman, Justin Lothrop, Brent Stiefel, Brad Zimmerman, David Michôd, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Ryan Heller, Michael Bloom
- Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Elizabeth Debicki, Marli Siu, Nabhaan Rizwan, Richard E. Grant, Peter Dinklage
- Cinematography: Lol Crawley
- Editing: Sofi Marshall
- Score: Anna Meredith
- Genre: Romantic fantasy comedy-drama
- Runtime: 105 minutes
Repelling everyone around her with a piscine stench, a fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) lives alone on the edge of a village. She leads a mundane life, selling her wares to the townspeople. She inadvertently gets caught up in a wedding ritual which deems her to be the next woman to marry.
Her marital status is the subject of mockery and snide remarks so she turns to the Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) and requests he make her a husband. A month later, the pair are wed. The Wicker Husband (an unrecognisable Alexander Skarsgård) is quite the sight to behold, an exemplar of the Basket Weaver’s master craftsmanship.
The Wicker Husband’s compassionate behaviour is in contradistinction to the crude menfolk. His tall stature and sturdy physique catch the eye of the women. Jealousy is rife; the neglected wives who wish he was their spouse while the men envy the attention he’s receiving. In a short span of time, the Fisherwoman has gone from being the butt of jokes to having the most solid matrimony in town.
With her parents dying in her youth, the Fisherwoman probably hasn’t been touched in years. Not that she minds. Spinsterhood sees her living a simple, uncomplicated existence. An unmarried woman, she goes against the grain as she fishes instead of being consigned to birthing and raising children. Throw in a man – flesh and blood irrelevant – and one’s life of solitude is now shared in a tender union. This bizarre premise transforms the ordinary into something charmed and rather romantic. Of course, she takes ‘to have and to hold’ seriously and wild intercourse results in a broken bed. She gets her fill of wood. Careful you don’t get splinters…down there. It’s simply outrageous.
The honeymoon period ends after rumours of the Wicker Husband’s infidelity start swirling. Colman’s acting is incredible as the Fisherwoman, when the marriage goes up in flames, wears the willow. Skarsgård’s performance is one-note, wooden even, but that’s part of the character – he was created for one single purpose: to be a husband, whatever that may entail. In between giggling at all the bawdiness, you’ll find yourself affected by how heartfelt the film is.
My rating: 7 / 10
