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Wicker, wicker, where art thou?

November 9, 2026 · 22 min

Show notes

Is Wicker succeeding where rom-coms fall short?

When the Wicker trailer dropped, all thirst broke loose. The movie -- starring Olivia Colman as a spinster fisherwoman and Alexander Skarsgård as her husband made of wicker -- sparked a lot of chatter about what exactly is so swoon-worthy about a basket-woven beau. The movie highlights women's interest in stories about non-human romantic partners, while joining the canon of sexy, sometimes silly films about finding your footing in relationships. But it also asks deeper questions about what we expect from our partners -- and what the rest of the world expects from couples.

Brittany gets into all this with Rachel Handler, features writer at New York Magazine, and Aisha Harris, critic and host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour.

For more episodes on what’s going on in movies (and how they speak to what’s going on in culture), check out:
Why Gen Z is movie-maxxing
Women deserve revenge. Do they get to have it?
Inside the Michael Jackson legacy industrial complex

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