MIFF Opening Night: WICKER

Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård lead this cheeky, star-studded and irresistible fable about a cranky fisherwoman and the sexy handwoven husband she wishes for.

In a seaside village lost to time, a fisherwoman delivers the food relied on by the townsfolk, who barely tolerate her cantankerous presence. Unexpectedly named the next to wed and sick of the disdain, she commissions the local basketmaker to weave her the perfect husband, and he goes above and beyond. When you’re married to the hottest and handiest man around, however, jealousies inevitably flare up.

Adapting Ursula Wills-Jones’s 2008 short story, this Sundance-premiering twist on a period love story – directed by Australian-born Eleanor Wilson and filmmaking (as well as real-life) partner Alex Huston Fischer, and including MIFF Accelerator alum David Michôd among its producers – is at once ingenious and charmingly irreverent. But it’s no straw-man depiction of middle-aged sexual wish fulfilment: the film uses its whimsical premise to critique small-mindedness, superstition and overzealous conservatism. Olivia Colman goes all-in for a role that recalls her fiery turn in The Favourite, while Alexander Skarsgård (Lee, MIFF 2024) is magnetic as a creature with more humanity than his human counterparts – testament to the practical effects by Joe Dunckley (Avatar) and WETA Workshop. Capped off with transportive cinematography by Oscar winner Lol Crawley (The Brutalist) and counting Peter Dinklage (The Toxic Avenger, MIFF 2025), Richard E. Grant and Melbourne’s own Elizabeth Debicki (The Tale, MIFF 2018) among its cast, Wicker is a fantasy romance that asks whether we truly know our heart’s desire.

“Quirky, winsome and enjoyably tart … a film full of lively personality and possessed of a rather humane outlook on our petty foibles.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Unclassified 18+