Wicker: A Fable of Willow and Marriage
The film adapts a short story into a romantic fantasy about a village where identity is defined by labor and social status.
By Josephine Clarke ·
Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson have released their adaptation of Ursula Wills’ 2008 short story, The Wicker Husband, under the title Wicker. The film presents a romantic fantasy set in an imaginary long-ago village where residents are identified solely by their jobs. It carries an MPAA rating of R and an OSV News classification of A-III for adults.
The narrative centers on the Fisherwoman, played by Olivia Colman, a spinster who sells her daily catch and is known for retaining the smell of fish. In this community, weddings follow peculiar rituals where brides wear collars to mark their status as chattel. A mysterious Basket Weaver, played by Peter Dinklage, determines the next woman to be wed through a ritual involving eggs.
Fearing rejection, the Fisherwoman asks the Basket Weaver to build her a husband as a joke. The Weaver creates a wicker man, played by Alexander Skarsgard, who possesses life and empathy. The character is described as moral, kind, and attentive to the Fisherwoman’s emotional needs. Her contentment with the wicker spouse contrasts with the dissatisfaction in other village marriages.
Villagers react with jealousy to the wicker man’s ideal nature. The men feel they cannot measure up, while women resent the Fisherwoman’s happiness. When the Bottle Washer’s widow, played by Marli Siu, asks the Weaver for a wicker baby, gossip spreads that the wicker man has been unfaithful. Elizabeth Debicki, as the Tailor’s Wife, fuels the slander.
The men of the village eventually decide that a wicker woman would make their lives ideal. The film explores the joys and disappointments of married life in this setting. It includes scenes of semi-graphic marital lovemaking, implied sexual activity, and rear male and partial nudity. The movie also features bawdy humor, crude sexual banter, fleeting gore, and brief rough language.
The production is described as adult-oriented but never crass. It makes a case that there is a man for every woman, provided she is not too particular about him being woven from willow rods. The film is labeled a near-perfect fable about loneliness, self-esteem, and the fulfillment men and women find in each other.
Source: The Catholic Spirit
