Wicker ends with the Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman), her Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgård), and a wicker baby riding out of the village on the Basket Weaver’s (Peter Dinklage) cart, leaving the townsfolk to deal with the mess they made. The trouble starts when the Bottlewasher dies trying to live up to the Wicker Husband, and his widow, the Tailor’s Wife’s (Elizabeth Debicki) sister, secretly pays the Basket Weaver to make her a wicker baby. When the Tailor’s Wife finds out, she brings the baby to the Fisherwoman as “proof” that her husband has been unfaithful, and in a jealous rage, the Fisherwoman throws a lantern at him, setting him on fire. He flees into the forest, and she assumes he’s dead.
Later, she finds the wicker baby abandoned in the woods and takes it in, and the Basket Weaver brings her husband back, patched up but warning that the mold spreading through his body will only get worse. The Basket Weaver then announces his retirement, offering one final creation, a Wicker Wife, to whichever villager brings him the best gift. The Tailor’s Wife shows up with a sack of gold, hoping the Wicker Wife can replace her at home so she can finally leave, but the Butcher, who has locked his own young wife in the cellar so he can bid, wins out. His prize turns out to be woven from blackthorn, and when she kisses him, the thorns go straight through his face.
Read our full review of Wicker
Why Does the Basket Weaver Make a Blackthorn Wife?
The Blackthorn Wife is the Basket Weaver’s parting punishment for a village that spent the whole film tormenting the Fisherwoman for wanting something different. Every villager who mocked her unconventional marriage turns out to be just as hungry for one, and the contest exposes it in front of everyone: spouses bid against each other, the Tailor’s Wife publicly admits she wants out of her own family, and the Butcher reveals how he treats the wife he already has. The Butcher is rewarded with exactly what he deserves, a bride who hurts him the moment he tries to possess her, while his escaped wife watches. Better still, the Basket Weaver declares every gift non-returnable, so he leaves town with the villagers’ livestock and treasure loaded onto his cart. Their envy costs them dearly, in more ways than one.
Does Wicker Have a Happy Ending?
For the Fisherwoman, yes, though it comes with a catch. She gets her husband back, she gains a child, and she finally escapes a community that never accepted her. But the mold in the Wicker Husband’s body means their time together isn’t unlimited, which gives the ending a bittersweet edge. That limitation is part of the point. Before he’s burned, the Wicker Husband doesn’t seem to change or age, but afterward he’s as mortal as anyone, and the Fisherwoman chooses him anyway. The film’s message is that love doesn’t need the village’s permission, or anyone else’s, to be real, and that the people most desperate to police other people’s happiness are usually the least happy themselves.
