Warning: Wicker ending spoilers, ahead.
Wicker is a poignant fairytale for the age of the trad wife renaissance and red-pilled manosphere—and not everyone gets a happily ever after.
Based on the short story “The Wicker Husband” by Ursula Wills-Jones, Wicker weaves the tale of a social outcast who seeks love despite not subscribing to her town’s rigid societal expectations regarding women and the institution of marriage. The answer: a man built to love her by the town’s magic-wielding basket maker. But what happens when the rest of the townsfolk are forced to reckon with the limitations of the social contracts they themselves enforce?
Sold to the masses as a campy, lust-filled story of a Fisherwoman (Olivia Coleman) who falls in love with a man that’s all wood (Alexander Skarsgård), the movie itself was far more twisted than viewers may have expected. Here’s what you need to know about Wicker and its dark fairy-tale ending.
What’s the plot of Wicker?
When we meet our independent Fisherwoman, she is completely resistant to the idea of marriage. Why wouldn’t she be, considering the town’s tradition of collaring their brides at the altar and the grooms’ penchant for drinking themselves into oblivion after having a goat bite off a metaphorical carrot penis? IYKYK. It doesn’t help that the town itself seems to despise Fisherwoman for her lack of husband and the smells that come hand-in-hand with her vocation.
Marli Siu as The Bottlewasher’s Wife
Courtesy Everett Collection
Of course, the former is clearly the bigger issue, as every man is named after their work, while the town’s married women are simply The Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki), The Innkeeper’s Wife (Emily Lloyd-Saini), The Bottlewasher’s Wife (Marli Siu), etc. Throughout the film it becomes quite clear that The Tailor’s Wife, in particular, is resentful of more than just The Fisherwoman’s unkempt appearance and hygiene practices.
But loneliness is a powerful thing, and The Fisherwoman eventually finds herself craving intimacy. Unwilling to settle for any of the eligible men in her town, she seeks out the reclusive Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) to build her a husband.
Peter Dinklage as The Basketmaker
Courtesy Everett Collection
How does the town react?
The Wicker Husband’s clear devotion toward The Fisherwoman sparks envy among dissatisfied wives and anxiety among men who don’t want to live up to a new set of standards. After all, The Wicker Husband dances proudly with his wife in front of everyone, satisfies her enough to break their bed, and then fixes said bed without being asked. This newfound insecurity leads The Bottlewasher (Gustav Lindh) to try to impress his wife by fixing their roof, only to fall to his death.
The Tailor’s Wife’s jealousy, however, is less about The Wicker Husband and more about The Fisherwoman’s continued autonomy. So when she asks for a chance to help her husband expand their business as partners and is rebuffed, her resentment only grows. She sees an opportunity to upend The Fisherwoman’s happiness when The Bottlewasher’s widow, who also happens to be her sister, seeks out The Basketmaker to weave her a baby.
Elizabeth Debicki as The Tailor’s Wife
Courtesy Everett Collection
Why does The Fisherwoman set The Wicker Husband on fire?
Well, The Tailor’s Wife heavily implies The Wicker Baby is the result of The Wicker Husband’s infidelity. The Fisherwoman is devastated and has a very flammable partner.
So how do they get their Happily Ever After?!
After The Fisherwoman leaves her Wicker Husband to burn, he’s found by The Basketmaker, who fixes him and reminds The Fisherwoman that her husband can’t actually make a wicker baby through sex. The reunited pair ride off into the sunset with The Wicker Baby, who was abandoned by its mom.
Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård as The Fisherwoman and The Wicker Husband
Courtesy Everett Collection
Okay, so how does Wicker end for everyone else?
If this were a Disney-coded fairy tale, there would probably be redemption for The Tailor’s Wife and the rest of the townsfolk. This is not that kind of story. Instead, The Basketmaker auctions off a Wicker Wife to the townsperson who can provide the best offering. The Butcher wins with a payment of livestock, only to find his Wicker Wife is riddled with sharp thorns.
Before this happens, The Tailor’s Wife attempts to win The Wicker Wife to serve as her replacement, hoping to forge a path away from her life as a wife and mother. But when she loses to The Butcher and tries to return to her husband, he rejects her over the betrayal. Perhaps she’ll get that new beginning after all.
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