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Wicker is a fairy tale for adults, set in a village where nobody looks too kindly at anyone who is different. Olivia Colman plays a lonely Fisherwoman who commissions a husband made of woven willow, Alexander Skarsgård plays that husband, and Peter Dinklage plays the Basket Weaver who builds him. The film is based on Ursula Wills-Jones’s short story “The Wicker Husband,” and its finale is warmer, and much more vengeful, than a quiet love story would suggest.
Wicker Plot
The Fisherwoman is lonely and unlucky in love. She goes to the Basket Weaver and commissions a husband woven out of wicker. The result is the Wicker Husband and the two fall in love. The village is less welcoming of this couple. The Tailor’s Wife implies that the Wicker Husband has been unfaithful, and a Wicker Baby appears as supposed proof. The Fisherwoman believes it. In the chaos that follows, the Wicker Husband catches fire and runs into the forest.
Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead for the Wicker
Wicker Ending Explained
What Happens to the Wicker Husband?
He runs into the forest in flames, and the Fisherwoman believes she has lost him because of his betrayal. The Basket Weaver later tells her he found him. He reveals that he repaired her husband. The Wicker Husband was alive all along.
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What Happens to the Wicker Baby?
The Fisherwoman finds the baby abandoned and takes it in. The Basket Weaver then points out the flaw in the village’s story: Wicker Husbands can’t have Wicker Babies. That means the infidelity never happened, and the Fisherwoman was lied to. The baby is not a symbol of betrayal after all. It’s a child who needs a home, and she gives it one.
How Does The Basket Weaver Get His Revenge?
He turns on the village that wronged his friends. He offers a Wicker Wife to whoever brings the best gift, then declares every gift non-returnable. The villagers compete with their best goods, and the prize goes to the Butcher. The Wicker Wife turns out to be a pile of twigs rather than a charming bride. The Butcher is out his gift, and the village loses its best possessions to a trick.
Why Is The Wicker Wife Made Of Blackthorn?
She’s made of blackthorn, “durable and sharp.” The wicker the Fisherwoman’s husband was woven from was chosen with care. The Butcher’s bride was built to be a punishment for a village that rewards greed and cruelty.
Where will the Wicker Family Go Next?
The final shot shows the Basket Weaver, the Fisherwoman, the Wicker Husband and the Wicker Baby leaving town in a cart full of the village’s best. The family is reunited and the liars lose what they cared about most. They don’t stay to fix the village. They leave it behind.
What Does The Finale Really Mean?
Wicker is a story about who gets to belong. The village punishes difference with gossip, and the Fisherwoman nearly loses her husband because she believes what she’s told. The finale reverses that: the outsiders walk away with the village’s wealth, while the village is left with a thorny reminder of what it did.
The ending is also kinder than its source. Wills-Jones’s short story is less triumphant, and the film gives its characters a family, a cart full of treasure and a fresh start.
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