“Wicker” has made itself no stranger to social media conversation — its dynamic plot following a small-town fisherwoman and her sexually explicit engagement with a man made out of wicker was quickly rampant on everyone’s TikTok for you page. Come Oct. 30, the day of its famed release, audiences everywhere were already brimming to see the film play out with its revolutionary take on straw-man erotica.
The Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) is ostracized by the rest of the village, particularly by the Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki). The Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) gives the younger women of the village basket-woven eggs to see whose will explode first. In lieu of a traditional ritual of the bride throwing a bouquet to see who will get married next, the egg exploding ceremony works in the same effect. The Fisherwoman’s explodes, and the village only mocks the idea of her getting married, ridiculing her for her roughed-up appearance.
After this incident, the Fisherwoman commissions the Basket Weaver to make her a husband, and he agrees. The Wicker Man (Alexander Skarsgård) devotes himself to her happiness, at the dismay of the rest of the shoddy village husbands.
After the Bottlewasher’s Wife (Marli Siu) is widowed, she requests a wicker baby from the basket weaver, who delivers. The Tailor’s Wife begins a conflict with the Fisherwoman over her husband’s supposed infidelity, attempting to use the wicker baby as proof. Believing it, the Fisherwoman sets her husband on fire in a fit of rage, leading him to run away. The Bottlewasher’s Wife abandons her wicker baby in the woods, and the Fisherwoman discovers it and takes it under her care. Eventually, the Basket Weaver brings them back together, leaving the men of the village with a Basket Woman, one that poisons and stabs the greediest man in the village. He takes the Fisherwoman, the Wicker Husband and the wicker baby in his carriage, where they ride off into the sunset.
The movie’s plot is quite sporadic — but it does pack a punch. The incredibly explicit sex scenes are a good way of prompting audience engagement as — let’s be honest, it’s what drew us to the movie in the first place. It certainly delivers in its audibly promiscuous elements. However, beyond the initial shock of the wicker man partaking in sex with a human woman, it’s surprisingly deep.
For one thing, none of the characters have names. They are all titled solely by their role — like “Fisherwoman,” “Wicker Man” or “Basket Weaver.” Their backgrounds are initially defined only by their role in the village. While starting with a flat label, the movie gives them depth beyond occupation. Together, their characters develop to be more than just the shallow descriptor given in place of their names. Their emotional journey gives them definition as people, which, in a movie about basket-woven specimens, allows for a unity between the humans and basket-woven people.
The presence of a wicker man, basket baby and basket woman all serve different points in the plot. Each one symbolizes human beings seeking different kinds of love, however with different intentions for each character.
The Fisherwoman seeking a wicker husband was her attempt at community and feeling the affection of another. After her ostracization in the village, she wanted to belong somewhere, with someone. The majority of modern romances delve into youthful, college-bred city girls meeting conventionally attractive men. By following an older woman who seeks love from a more-than-unconventional man, the movie has a stand-out spunk and welcome change.
The basket baby is symbolic of the Bottlewasher’s Wife’s grief and how humans cope with the loss of love. Whereas the Fisherwoman never had love, the Bottlewasher’s Wife is going through the loss of what she once had. Her baby is the representation of finding new love and attempting to balance your emotions and life after extenuating circumstances force you into a new situation. This deeper emotional message gave the movie more complexity as it deals with these variations of raw human emotion and their desperation in the midst of grief.
The Basket Weaver’s final creation, the Basket Woman, symbolizes the greed and general distrust among the rest of the villagers. In the way that they ostracized the Fisherwoman and ridiculed the Wicker Man for being devoted to his wife, they now suffer the consequences of showering the Basket Weaver with gifts in hope of being given his newly woven basket woman. When she kills the man that wins her, it’s a representation of greed and how the villager’s corruption and desire for a basket-woven creature was not born out of the desire for genuine love or raw human emotion. It was the result of their greed and desire for more than what they already had.
Other than the prominence of the wicker and basket-woven characters, the movie’s charm comes from its frank approach to storytelling and intricate details, going outside just its premise as the straw-man erotica movie. The ending is hopeful, and gives the movie its sweet note with a sweeter ending for the characters who deserved it. The characters that sought genuine love and connection, not at the expense or condescendence of others — like the Fisherwoman and the Basket Weaver — all met a sweet end outside the corruption of the village. Juxtaposing the serious, deeply emotional tone of the rest of the movie, a hopeful ending gives the audience a refreshed perspective and a satisfied feeling about what they just watched.
Overall, “Wicker” proved itself to be a solid movie, and it makes its mark as an erotica that goes beyond just a man and woman engaging in scandalous sex together. The actors give it their all, and Colman specifically really nails her expressions and resonates with her role throughout the movie. The movie is funny, witty and uses its unconventional characters as symbolism for the progression of life and the processing of human emotion.
Audrey Phoukong is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at aphoukon@uci.edu.
Edited by Travis Foley and Geneses Navarro.
