Wicker (2026) Black Bear/Fantasy-Comedy RT: 105 minutes Rated R (sexual content, language, brief full nudity) Director: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Fischer Screenplay: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Fischer Music: Anna Meredith Cinematography: Lol Crawley Release date: October 23, 2026 (US) Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki, Marli Siu, Nabhaan Rizwan, Richard E. Grant, Ella Bruccoleri, Ben Ashenden, Kiell Smith-Bynoe.
Rating: *** ½
I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I watched Wicker this past Friday afternoon. It’s the exact kind of film I used to go into the city to see. It’s one of those strange little movies that typically played at the Roxy Screening Rooms, a small independent theater on 20th and Samson. It showed the titles rejected by the city’s premier arthouse chain, the Ritz Theaters. They would often have midnight shows of movies other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show which they showed every Saturday night until the place temporarily closed in 1994. Wicker would likely play in the adjacent house for at least a few weeks if it came out in the early 90s.
Wicker is the exact opposite of a mainstream movie. It’s only going to appeal to a very limited audience. It’s strange and unusual. What is it, you ask? It’s a blend of grim fairy tale and ribald comedy. Set in medieval times, it centers on a lady known only as Fisherwoman (Colman, The Favourite). She’s the target of ridicule by her neighbors for her disheveled appearance, fishy odor and being unmarried. She openly mocks the institution of marriage which, in this particular village, entails the bride having a heavy metal collar placed around her neck by the groom as part of the ceremony. Yeah, it’s not too subtle a metaphor.
Tired of being alone in her ramshackle hut away from her neighbors, she goes to Basket Weaver (Dinklage, Game of Thrones) and asks him to make her a husband from wicker. He tells her to be at the chapel in one month’s time. True to his word, Wicker Husband (Skarsgard, The Northman) is waiting for Fisherwoman when she arrives. After a quickie wedding, he moves into her place and proves to be the perfect husband. He tends to the home, fixing things that need fixing, while she goes out to work catching fish and selling them in the village. One of the things that always needs fixing is the bed. The newlyweds have a tendency to break it…. a lot.
The villagers can’t believe what they’re seeing when Fisherwoman makes her public debut with her Wicker Husband. He’s polite, charming and gentle. The men resent him because he makes them look bad. The women are jealous because their husbands are sexist pigs. It doesn’t help that the entire village hears Fisherwoman’s screams of pleasure every night. The worst of the lot is Tailor’s Wife (Debicki, The Crown), the village mean girl who feels especially threatened by the couple’s happiness. She resolves to get rid of Wicker Husband and return things to normal.
Written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Fischer (Save Yourselves!), Wicker is a funny and intelligent adult fairy tale that never tries to explain itself. We never learn how Basket Weaver is able to make his creation come to life. It asks us to accept it at face value and we do because we don’t want to ruin the fantasy with reality. Explaining the how of it would unnecessarily weigh it down by making us ask more questions. Sometimes it’s better just to put the plate in front of the audience rather than spoon feed it to them. It definitely works in this case.
The cast does a phenomenal job, all of them. Colman is a delight as the fiercely independent woman who isn’t above making a good dirty joke. She’s mocked by her neighbors, but it’s really just a way of deflecting from their unsatisfactory lives playing the gender roles dictated by society. Whereas the others see sex as a duty and a husband’s right, FW and WH see it as a pleasurable activity to be enjoyed by both parties. This difference of perspective is one of the things that put the villagers in an uproar. Colman embodies this modern attitude with style, humor and panache.
Skarsgard is equally terrific as the man made of wicker (no, I will not make any Wicker Man references). He’s more human than any of the men in the village save for Dinklage’s character. He plays it with sincerity and realism. He has amazing chemistry with Colman. They work in perfect harmony to keep the film honest. You really believe they’re in love; the emotion is palpable.
I know it’s a long shot, but Dinklage deserves at least an Oscar nod for his humorous supporting performance. He’s not in it a lot (he disappears for a long stretch), but he makes the most of his limited screen time confidently delivering each line as though it was Shakespeare. He even gets a couple of soliloquies. Debicki has some good scenes as the vain Tailor’s Wife, an insecure bully who can’t stand not being the center of attention. She makes a point when she and her husband (Rizwan, Dope Girls) argue about her role in the family business or the lack thereof.
I love the Grimm trappings of Wicker, especially the idea of characters without proper names. It makes sense to refer to them by profession or husband’s profession. After all, it is making a statement about gender roles. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Richard E. Grant’s hilarious turn as the incompetent, drunken village doctor. He could very well be an ancestor of his character from the 1987 cult British comedy Withnail & I.
I know most people will make a wide berth around Wicker. It’s one of those movies nobody’s heard anything about unless they keep track of all current releases. Given the bizarre subject matter and the fact it’s not a horror movie, it’s not going to draw in too many people. However, I do believe we’re looking at a cult film here. Is that so bad?
