Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard
“WICKER” My rating: C+ (In theaters)
105 minutes | MPAA rating: R
”Wicker” is a great idea that after a promising beginning doesn’t go anywhere.
Co-directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson (they based their screenplay on a short story by Ursula Wills), the film can boast of a great cast (Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard, Peter Dinklage) and Oscar-worthy production design that beautifully evokes its fairy tale-ish setting.
But the film sets us up for a great romance, and then yanks the carpet out from under us.
The middle-aged Fisherwoman played by Olivia Colman (none of the characters have real names…instead they are identified by their professions) is the object of ridicule in her little thatched-hut village. The locals make fun of her unmarried status, her fishy smell and her general lack of hygiene.
She’s endured their gibes for years, but after witnessing the burg’s latest wedding (instead of a ring on her finger the groom places a metal collar around his new wife’s neck…a not-so-subtle comment on the sexual pecking order) she decides to show her critics what’s what.
So she approaches the local Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) and pays him to build her a husband.
Apparently the Basketmaker is some kind of wizard, because he fashions from wood and reed an astonishingly handsome Wicker Man (Alexander Skarsgard, all but unrecognizable beneath makeup and prosthetics that are absolutely mesmerizing).
From the moment of his creation, apparently, the Wicker Man is devoted to the Fisherwoman. In many ways he is childlike and polite, learning the ways of the humans around him.
But when it comes to sex, well, he brings new meaning to the word “wood.” The frumpy Fisherwoman finds herself with a lover so devoted as to require frequent repairs to her bed. Almost overnight she shifts from an object of ridicule to one of envy — and resentment.
While concentrating on the couple’s physical and emotional intimacy “Wicker” is a sweet delight. But all too soon the yarn becomes a downer. The village women, lead by the scheming Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki), resent the Fisherwoman’s happiness when compared to their own drab love lives. They try to pry the happy couple apart.
“Wicker” promises a soul-stirring love ballad fueled by the interaction of the comically inclined Colman and the stiff but compliant Skarsgard. Alas, it soon devolves into an examination of sexual politics seasoned with jealousy and venality. You want it to sing…but it only grumbles.
The problem may be that the source material — a short story — didn’t have enough depth to flesh out an entire feature. It might have been better as a short film.
That said, production designer Renato Cseh and costumers Toth Andras Daniel and Godena-Juhasz Attila have fashioned for us a fantastic world that effortlessly incorporates eras from the Medieval to the Edwardian.
And the Wicker costume, created over 18 months by New Zealand’s Weta Workshop, could very well become as iconic as the storm troopers from the “Star Wars” universe.
| Robert W. Butler
