2026 Sundance Film Festival Movie Review: Wicker
Wicker is a movie that features quirky characters, a unique setting, and fantastical elements, yet it is quietly an amazing film. It features spectacular production design and makeup, great performances from the entire ensemble, and a universal and heartwarming core theme.
Based on the Ursula Wilis-Jones short story The Wicker Husband, Wicker stars Olivia Colman as the Fisherwoman, a woman who, as her name suggests, fishes and sells the fish to the local townspeople. She is a lonely, quiet woman, and because of her trade, she walks around town with a fish odor. She is the butt of jokes amongst the other women in town, particularly the Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki).
Tired of being alone and made fun of, the Fisherwoman enlists the help of the Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) to create her a husband out of wicker. He does, and the Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgaard) and the Fisherwoman marry, causing a stir amongst the townsfolk. As their relationship flourishes emotionally and physically, the women of the town become jealous, causing rumors and miscommunication make the Fisherwoman question her relationship.
Wicker is a beautiful movie about true love, communication, and trust. It is told through a humorous and elegant lens. Writers/directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson created a lively world set in this small village. They establish the characters and the happenings of the village in a nice, straightforward manner. The men do all the work. The women take care of the house and the kids. There are strange traditions involving a horse and eggs that shake, and everyone seems to follow these rules and traditions until the Fisherwoman makes her husband. The town is like a twisted version of a classic Disney village we would see in a classic cartoon.
The characters in Wicker are even more unique than the town, thanks in large part to the performances by the cast. Colman is superb as the Fisherwoman. Once bitter to the world, finding the love of her life allows her to open up a community that doesn’t want her to fit in. Colman expertly balances Fishwoman’s pain and sadness with charm and comedy. Debicki is strong as the town’s rude Queen Bee, and Alexander Skarsgaard gives the best performance of his career as the towering and sweet Wicker Husband, who has one purpose on this Earth, and that is to keep Fisherwoman happy. The concept of kindness and pure love is a foreign idea to the town, and even when faced with temptation, Wicker Husband knows where his heart belongs. The film’s core theme of true love, trust, communication, and partnership in a relationship is as beautiful as it is relevant, and ties home Wicker as a delightful romantic fable.
Wicker played in the Premieres category at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
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