By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"WICKER” IS A WOVEN WONDER
From the stage to television and film, you can always count on Oscar-winning actress
Olivia Colman ("Elsinore" and "The Favourite") to rise and shine.
And in her latest movie,
"Wicker," a funny, bawdy romantic fantasy comedy, she delivers once again.
Directed and co-written by
Alex Huston Fischer ("Save Yourselves!"), based on the short story "The Wicker Husband" by
Ursula Wills and adapted with screenwriter
Eleanor Wilson ("Save Yourselves!"), this period piece takes a satirical look at love, relationships, and societal norms.
Colman plays the Fisherwoman, a mostly happy, single woman living in a quaint 18th-century European village. She has her own distinctive style, and a pronounced fishy smell that has most of the villagers holding their noses whenever she comes around with a basket full of fresh fish to sell. The snide remarks she endures come primarily from the local women, who criticize her for being a disheveled-looking single woman with no man in sight.
Normally, the Fisherwoman lets these comments slide. But over time, in the quiet solitude of her home, she begins to wonder whether having a man in her life would make things easier or simply make them worse. At the very least, perhaps it would silence the nosy women who are always meddling in her business.
So, just for the heck of it, the Fisherwoman asks the local basket weaver, played by a funny Peter Dinklage ("Roofman"), to make her a husband out of wicker. It takes him about a month, but the payoff is well worth the wait.
The Fisherwoman's tall, handsome Wicker Husband, (Alexander Skarsgard, "The Northman" and TV's "Succession"), is quite literally a dream come true in every way imaginable. He's a whiz at fixing things around the house and quite the stud in the bedroom. Their lovemaking is so loud and passionate that the entire village can hear them, and they break the bed regularly.
The Fisherwoman is now wearing her "I never knew love like this before" expression regularly, and her newfound contentment doesn’t go unnoticed. The village women, along with some of their husbands, begin to grow suspicious--and a little jealous--of the Wicker Husband and the happiness he brings his wife. Now the pressure is on them to get their act together.
As you might expect, the Wicker Husband soon becomes the talk of the town, and some of the women are curious to see just what makes him so irresistible.
But the fun doesn't stop with the central couple. "Wicker" also has a supporting cast of characters that are equally as intriguing and include the local quirky doctor (Richard E. Grant, "Wildwood"), the Tailor (Nabhaan Rizwan, TV's "Juice"), his wife (Elizabeth Debicki, "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth"), and the Tailor's Wife's sister (Marli Siu, "Black Church Bay").
Make no mistake, "Wicker" is an odd little movie, but it's also a charming and fascinating adult fairy tale filled with both subtle and not-so-subtle humor. Beneath its wonderfully strange premise is a sly commentary on society's expectations of women, the pressures of marriage, and the idea that happiness must come in a conventional package.
Colman seems just as comfortable navigating these far-fetched, offbeat stories as she does delivering the serious, emotionally layered performances for which she's so well known. She gives the Fisherwoman just the right blend of vulnerability, independence, and uninhibited joy, and makes "Wicker" an unusual, surprising romantic adventure that is wickedly endearing.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"WICKER"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
