Wicker Movie Parents Guide: Why It’s Rated R and Why I Still Gave It 9.5/10 (No Spoilers)

If you’re looking for a Wicker movie parents guide before you buy tickets, here’s the honest short version: it’s rated R, and it earns it. There are several sex scenes, a lot of sexual swearing and two short bloody moments. But if you’re an adult, please don’t let that scare you off. I saw Wicker on October 24, the day after it opened, and I gave it a 9.5 out of 10.

I went in with no expectations at all. Olivia Colman orders a husband woven out of wicker? It sounded so strange that I wasn’t sure what I was walking into. What I got was one of the best surprises I’ve had at the movies in a long time. The story is tight, the acting is wonderful, and it’s funny, sad and warm all at once. Near the end, I cried, and I don’t think I was the only one.

Below, I’ll walk you through exactly what’s in it, with rough times from my own showing, the age rating in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and who I think will love this movie the most. No spoilers, I promise.

In theaters	Select theaters October 23, 2026, nationwide October 30, from Black Bear. I saw it on October 24, the day after it opened
Where to watch	In theaters only for now. Not streaming yet
Directors	Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer, who also wrote the script
Cast	Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki, Richard E. Grant
Based on	“The Wicker Husband,” a short story by Ursula Wills-Jones
Genre	A dark fairy tale romance with a lot of comedy
Runtime	1 hour 45 minutes. At my showing, the movie started about 25 minutes after showtime, and the credits rolled about 1 hour 41 minutes in
Rating	R for sexual content, language and brief full nudity
Scare level	2 / 5. Not horror, but one quick startle and two short bloody scenes
Post-credits scene	No. I stayed until the very end
My verdict	9.5 / 10, worth seeing in a theater
Best for / Good to know	Best for adults who love strange, heartfelt fairy tales, and anyone who’s ever been judged for living their own way. Good to know: there are several sex scenes and two short bloody moments, so it’s a firm R

What Wicker Is About (No Spoilers)

Wicker takes place in a small fishing village. Olivia Colman plays the Fisherwoman, and the whole village gossips about her and looks down on her because she isn’t married. Fed up, she pays the local Basket Weaver, played by Peter Dinklage, to weave her a husband out of wicker.

That’s how the Wicker Husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård, comes into her life. He’s a little odd, and once he shows up, the same neighbors who mocked her start getting jealous. That’s really all you need to know going in. The fun is watching where it goes from there.

I always read up on a movie before I go, and one thing I learned is that the Wicker Husband isn’t a CGI creation. Wētā Workshop, the effects company behind The Lord of the Rings, built Skarsgård an actual woven suit over a 3D-printed shell, with only light digital touches on top. You can feel it on screen. He looks handmade because he basically is. He also speaks very clearly, every word crisp, which makes his lines easy to follow.

The movie is based on “The Wicker Husband,” a short story by Ursula Wills-Jones. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026 before opening in select US theaters on October 23. It expands to theaters nationwide on October 30. Elizabeth Debicki plays the Tailor’s Wife, and Richard E. Grant shows up as the village doctor.

Wicker Movie Parents Guide: What’s Actually in It

Here’s everything I’d want to know as a parent, or honestly as an adult deciding who to sit next to. I’m keeping it spoiler-free, so I’ll describe moments, not who or why.

Sex scenes: This is the big one. Wicker has several sex scenes. By my count, the main couple has three, two of them pretty intense and one quicker, and there are about two more between other characters. The first one starts roughly 22 minutes in. From what I saw, they’re more about movement and sound than nudity, but they come up a lot.

Nudity: The rating calls out brief full nudity. According to Parent Previews, it’s one quick shot of a man, from a distance, and it isn’t in a sexual moment.

Language: I didn’t keep a tally of the swearing, so I checked Parent Previews afterward. They counted about three dozen curse words, and 21 of them are sexual. A lot of them come up during, well, the sexual moments.

Blood: There are two moments I’d warn you about. Partway through, someone is brought into the village tavern with an injured leg wrapped in what looked like a wedding dress. They lay the person on a table, and the village doctor, who happens to be there eating, unwraps it and patches it up. You see the bloody wound and a rough, surgery-like fix. It was gross enough that I couldn’t really look. I didn’t catch the exact time on this one. The second moment is near the very end, about 99 minutes in at my showing. It’s short but graphic and bloody, and I’m not going to say more than that.

Other violence: Parent Previews also lists a brief fistfight, a fire scene, a knife threat and a mention of a past suicide.

Drinking: Adults drink in a lot of scenes, and some of them get drunk. Parent Previews doesn’t list any drug use.

Themes: Under the fairy tale, it’s a story about gossip, envy and being punished by your neighbors for living differently. It’s heavier than the fairy tale setup makes it sound.

Wicker Age Rating in the US, UK, Canada and Australia

Wicker got different ratings depending on where you live. Here’s what’s listed on IMDb as of October 24, 2026.

Country	Rating	What it means
United States	R	Under 17 needs a parent or adult guardian. Rated for sexual content, language and brief full nudity
United Kingdom	15	No one under 15. It opens in UK cinemas on October 30, 2026
Canada	14A (Alberta, British Columbia)	Under 14 needs to come with an adult
Australia	MA15+	Under 15 needs a parent or adult guardian
Ireland	15A	Under 15 needs to come with an adult
New Zealand	R16	16 and up only

So a 15-year-old in London can see it alone, but a 15-year-old in the US needs a parent or guardian with them.

Is Wicker OK for Kids? My Call

My call: 17 and up. If your teen is under 17, they should go with a parent or guardian, which is also how the R rating works at US theaters.

If you do bring a teen, just know the sex scenes come up again and again, and most of the swearing is sexual. Some families will be totally fine with that, and some won’t. You know your kid better than I do.

One more thing: the fairy tale setup might make Wicker sound like a family movie. It isn’t.

Is Wicker Scary? (It’s Not a Horror Movie)

No, Wicker isn’t a horror movie, and it has nothing to do with The Wicker Man, the 1973 British horror film that was remade with Nicolas Cage in 2006. I know the titles sound alike. Horror is a hard no for me, and I was totally fine.

There’s one quick moment that made me jump, and the two bloody moments I mentioned above are more gross than scary. I’d put it at a 2 out of 5 on my scare scale.

Dog Scene Guide: Are There Animals in Wicker?

Good news for fellow dog people: there’s no dog in Wicker that I can remember, so no dog gets hurt. The only animal I noticed was on screen for a few seconds, maybe a sheep, and nothing happened to it. Parent Previews does mention animals being butchered on screen, but it didn’t stick with me at all.

Since this is the dog lover’s check, here’s a little bonus for fellow dog parents. My 14-year-old Pomeranian’s nose gets really dry, and I finally found a nose balm that works for her.

My Wicker Scene Timeline (Rough Times From My Showing)

I like to jot down rough times during a movie so you know what’s coming. My showing was at 7:05 pm, and the movie itself started around 7:30 after ads and trailers. The minutes below are counted from when the movie started, so give or take a few.

• 7:05 pm: Showtime on my ticket. Ads and trailers first.
• About 7:30 pm (0:00): The movie started.
• About 22 minutes in: The first sex scene.
• About 59 minutes in: A big turning point. No spoilers, but you’ll know it when you see it.
• About 82 minutes in: The most emotional scene in the movie. This is where I cried, and I could tell a lot of people around me did too.
• About 99 minutes in: The short, bloody moment near the end.
• About 1 hour 41 minutes in: The story ends and the credits roll. No post-credits scene.

The leg injury scene I mentioned happens somewhere in the middle, but I didn’t catch the exact time. Bathroom break? Honestly, I wouldn’t take one. There wasn’t a single stretch I’d want to miss, so go before the trailers.

Why I Gave Wicker a 9.5 Out of 10

Everything just works: the story, the acting, the directing and the way it’s shot. I was locked in from start to finish. My theater laughed out loud a lot, and then the movie turned around and made us cry.

What really got me is the wicker husband idea itself. A man made of woven branches could easily feel silly or random, and there are moments where it’s honestly a little weird. But the movie turns that strangeness into something really moving. If he were just a regular man, I don’t think it would have hit me the same way. Whoever came up with this idea is kind of a genius.

Peter Dinklage plays the Basket Weaver who makes him, so in a way, the whole story starts with him.

I also loved the Fisherwoman’s journey. I wanted her to just be happy, but the world doesn’t let people like her off that easily. She gets pushed around by other people’s jealousy, she gets hurt, she takes a hard look at herself, and she finds her way back to a kind, open heart. It’s fun, it’s sad, it’s heartbreaking, and there’s a satisfying sense that good hearts and bad behavior both get what they deserve. It ended on a warm note for me.

It also hit close to home. I’m someone who doesn’t really live by other people’s standards, I can be stubborn, and I’ve dealt with my share of jealousy over the years. Watching it, I kept thinking that people really are the same everywhere.

Anything I didn’t like? Honestly, not really. Maybe I loved it this much partly because I expected nothing, but I was focused and having fun the whole time.

Who Should See Wicker (and Who Should Wait)

See it in a theater if:

• You live by your own rules and don’t bend to what other people expect.
• You’ve ever been the target of gossip or jealousy. You’ll feel for the Fisherwoman.
• You’ve ever caught yourself comparing your life to someone else’s. It’s interesting from that side, too.
• You love fairy tales with real, grown-up feelings in them.

In one line: if you have a kind heart, I think you’ll love this movie.

How I Watched Wicker

I saw it on Saturday, October 24, at a 7:05 pm showing on a regular screen with my AMC A-List. The theater was almost full, and the mood was great. People laughed out loud a lot, and near the end, the sniffling started.

Saturday night meant a busy lobby and long lines at the concession stand.

The poster wall outside was full of movies I’ve reviewed this month, like Verity, Digger, Sense and Sensibility and Street Fighter, with Wicker right there in the middle of them.

Wicker played in auditorium 12, a regular screen, at my theater.

Watch the Wicker Trailer

Here’s the official trailer from Black Bear, the movie’s US distributor, if you want a feel for the tone before you go.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you only remember two things, make it these. Wicker is rated R for real, with several sex scenes, lots of sexual swearing and two short bloody moments, so anyone under 17 should go with a parent or guardian. And if you’re an adult who loves a strange, tender story with a big heart, go see it in a theater. It’s a 9.5/10 for me.

Have you seen Wicker yet? Tell me in the comments which scene got you, spoiler-free please. The only other movie I’ve given a 9.5 this month is Wildwood, a gorgeous stop-motion movie you can actually take your teens to.

About me: I’m Emily. My AMC A-List lets me see up to four movies a week, I usually go solo, and I write each review the same night. Ghost and demon movies are a hard no for me, but a strange, heartfelt fairy tale like this one is exactly my kind of night. I always read up on a movie before I go, and I share that homework here too. See all my Movie Nights reviews.

Got dogs at home, too? Here are the lick mat recipes I make for my three dogs and how I knew my senior dog needed a stroller. And every movie I’ve seen this year is in My 2026 Movie Log.