Another year, another raunchy comedy-drama in which Alexander Skarsgård is the answer to a social outcast’s erotic dreams. Seated beside her in a London hotel room and wearing a bright orange “I’m With Stupid” T-shirt, Skarsgård tilts his head appreciatively. In Pillion, it was Harry Melling who had the privilege of being ravaged by the 50-year-old Swedish actor.
Now it is Colman’s turn in Wicker, an earthy adult fairytale filmed in Budapest and set in a medieval village populated almost exclusively by British comic actors who converse in language both archaically formal (“Happy to transact with you”) and bluntly colloquial (“I’d better fuck off”). Among them is Phil Daniels as a leering butcher and Richard E Grant as a doctor who is even more inept at his job than Grant was as a Celebrity Traitor. Colman plays the Fisherwoman, ridiculed by the other villagers for her pong and her general absence of allure.
In the spirit of mocking the dominant patriarchal conventions, where men put metal collars on their wives when they get married, she asks the Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) to fashion her a husband. A month later, she has a groom made entirely of wicker and dedicated solely to her pleasure and happiness. If the movie works, says Alex Huston Fischer, who wrote and directed Wicker with his wife, Eleanor Wilson, “you are essentially connecting emotionally to a basket”.
This is where Skarsgård comes in. His performance as the Wicker Husband was augmented by Weta Workshop, the New Zealand special-effects outfit behind the Lord of the Rings series. Highly flammable.” He tried out different accents but that felt “too removed from myself, what with the mask and everything else”.
Colman gives an amused snort: “Might as well have got someone else in,” she says. Her co-star responds by puffing out his chest: “Hey, people pay big bucks to see Alexander Skarsgård on screen!” In truth, he is humbler than all that. I don’t think there are many people who could have got quite so much across while acting within such restrictions.
It’s a mark of how good you are. Sorry!” Is it fair to call his performance minimalist? Subtleties wouldn’t register.
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