Wicker

Based on the story The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills, this 2026 adaptation titled Wicker stars the enduringly brilliant Olivia Colman as Fisherwoman, an outcast in her local village, bartering her aquatic goods amongst the sneering and jeering of the locals who constantly tease her. 

Deciding to mock the community’s archaic and sexist rituals, Fisherwoman employs the local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to create her a wicker husband (Alexander Skarsgård), accidentally creating her own unlikely love story. However, the jealousy and affront she stirs amongst the village, in particular the Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki), lead to societal fracturing and a whole lot of wood puns. 

From fornicating with furniture to Richard E. Grant’s terrific turn as the haphazard doctor, Wicker is a brilliantly funny comedy film. The stellar supporting cast (including Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Nabhaan Rizwan, Ella Bruccolri and more) keeps the guffaws coming on the regular, whilst an intricate love story is delivered with classic tragedy trappings.

Colman and Skarsgård are fabulous as the unlikely lovers, overcoming the squeaky sounds of the Wicker Husband’s physical form, keeping the audience enthralled with their bedframe breaking and perfect partnering. 

The social cruelties that are unearthed by their unusual pairing are the more compelling aspect of the movie, however, with a plethora of anguished behaviour arising from the locals that reveals just how deep-seated our need to believe in “normal” and “accepted” gender roles truly is (the collars they give newlywed brides being a firm example). 

The filmmakers brilliantly explore the natural human instinct to tear down someone else’s happiness to reinforce one’s own decisions, or to look for greener pastures instead of tending one’s own garden.

Good comedy is as hard to find as true love, and Wicker has woven something magical for the audiences of the 2026 London Film Festival and will hopefully go on to find a big and beautiful viewership beyond.