5 Movies to Watch If You Loved Wicker

Romance can take some truly unexpected forms — including a relationship with a humanoid figure made from wicker. That unusual premise drives 2026’s “Wicker,” written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson and inspired by Ursula Wills-Jones’ short story “The Wicker Husband.” The film centers on the isolated Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman), who marries the Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgård), a one-of-a-kind creation built for her by the Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage). Their connection quickly proves genuine, with the thoughtful and emotionally perceptive Wicker Husband often placing other people’s needs before his own. The nearby villagers, however, are disturbed by a union that challenges their rigid ideas about marriage and gender.

From there, “Wicker” blends broad comedy and extravagant intimacy with a sincere examination of love, compassion, and human connection. It’s an enormously entertaining film, so viewers captivated by its oddball charm may be looking for another movie to watch next. While plenty of the best romantic and fantasy movies could fit the bill, five titles stand out as particularly strong companions to “Wicker.” Some share members of its cast, while others explore romances between women and extraordinary or unconventional men.

These recommendations also capture the film’s fairy-tale sensibility, emotional warmth, or gently bittersweet mood. Each offers a different reason to revisit the magic of “Wicker” through another memorable romantic fantasy.

“Wicker” joins a long tradition of stories about women falling for imposing fantasy creatures, but Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” remains one of the most celebrated examples. The 2017 romantic fantasy earned multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, by turning an unconventional love story between two outsiders into an awards-season favorite.

In the film, Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a mute cleaner at a secretive facility, becomes attached to an amphibious humanoid creature (Doug Jones) kept inside a vast water tank. The cruel Strickland (Michael Shannon) sees the being as nothing more than an experiment, but Elisa recognizes his humanity. Their relationship develops from emotional trust into physical intimacy, transforming a premise that could have seemed gimmicky into something deeply moving.

Monsters and marginalized figures have long been central to del Toro’s work, and “The Shape of Water” presents that fascination with extraordinary visual richness. The vivid production design, sweeping imagery, and Alexandre Desplat’s delicate score all echo the overwhelming feeling of falling in love. Anchored by exceptional performances, the movie makes its fantastical romance feel both strange and completely sincere.

Alexander Skarsgård brings another unconventional romance to life in “Pillion,” a 2025 film that pairs comedy with leather, kink, and considerable emotional longing. Harry Lighton’s impressive directorial debut follows Colin (Harry Melling), a shy and socially withdrawn man who becomes fascinated by Ray (Skarsgård), a motorcycle-riding loner determined to avoid serious attachment. As their relationship develops, Ray introduces Colin to a highly controlled dynamic in which he dictates nearly every part of Colin’s life — an arrangement Colin embraces.

“Pillion” works beautifully on its own, but watching it alongside “Wicker” highlights Skarsgård’s remarkable range. In “Wicker,” he plays a gentle, literal-minded romantic whose kindness is immediately apparent. In “Pillion,” he is guarded, taciturn, and difficult to read. Yet both performances are compelling. One climactic scene in “Pillion” relies almost entirely on Skarsgård’s expression and physical presence, revealing just how much the actor can communicate without dialogue. Melling is equally effective as Colin, giving the film an emotionally engaging center.

The chemistry between its leads, along with bursts of sharply observed visual comedy, makes “Pillion” a memorable queer romance. It also makes an entertaining double feature with “Wicker” for anyone interested in seeing Skarsgård inhabit two radically different kinds of unconventional lovers.

Although “Wicker” delivers sharp contemporary commentary and plenty of laughs, its heart belongs to the world of traditional fairy tales. Rather than simply mocking that storytelling tradition, the film reshapes it into a modern fable. That approach makes it a natural companion to Jacques Demy’s 1970 classic “Donkey Skin,” adapted from Charles Perrault’s 17th-century tale “Donkeyskin.” In Demy’s surreal fantasy, a princess (Catherine Deneuve) seeks help from her fairy godmother to escape a horrifying proposed marriage to her father. The solution gives her a donkey-skin disguise and the chance to begin life under an assumed identity.

Even after the princess ends up working alongside pigs in a poor village, Demy’s film remains visually lavish. The director fills nearly every frame with saturated color, elaborate textures, and dreamlike compositions. Blue-painted members of the king’s court stand out among the film’s colorful settings, while the costumes become dazzling works of art in their own right.

“Donkey Skin” is a near-perfect example of cinematic fairy-tale storytelling, combining striking design with an engrossing and often surreal narrative. It is also genuinely funny. Few parodies could match the absurd delight of a character seeing the princess in her donkey disguise and simply asking, “Are you Donkey Skin?”

“Wicker” gains much of its emotional power from the knowledge that its central love story cannot continue indefinitely. The Wicker Husband will eventually deteriorate, making every shared moment between the couple more precious. That same awareness of love’s impermanence drives Michel Gondry’s 2004 masterpiece “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

The film begins after Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) have ended their relationship. Clementine has undergone a procedure to erase Joel from her memory, and Joel chooses to do the same. As the process unfolds, however, he rediscovers the importance of their time together and realizes that forgetting the pain would also mean losing the joy.

Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay turns an intricate, time-jumping concept into an intimate portrait of heartbreak. No matter how unconventional the structure becomes, Joel and Clementine’s connection remains at the center. The result is a moving and unpredictable film about the ways people hold on to love, even when a relationship is coming apart.

Carrey gives one of his most sensitive performances, while Winslet is equally captivating as the impulsive, complicated Clementine. Like the relationship at its core, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” cannot last forever — and its temporary nature is precisely what makes it so beautiful.

“The Favourite” marked the beginning of the celebrated creative partnership between Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos. The 2018 period film also played a major role in bringing Lanthimos’ distinctive arthouse style to a wider audience and elevated Olivia Colman to international stardom. Her Oscar-winning performance as Queen Anne helped establish her as a major leading actor — a career development that may well have contributed to her later starring role in “Wicker.”

Set in 18th-century England, the film follows Queen Anne (Colman) as her relationship with Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) is disrupted by the arrival of Sarah’s cousin Abigail (Emma Stone). Determined to replace Sarah in the queen’s affections, Abigail manipulates her way into a position of influence. The resulting power struggle is packed with sexual politics, cruelty, and characters surrendering to their most selfish impulses — elements it shares with “Wicker’s” portrait of people behaving badly in an old-fashioned setting.

Colman is extraordinary as the privileged yet deeply troubled monarch, and her chemistry with both Weisz and Stone gives the film its electric core. Lanthimos also creates a visually exacting world through unusual camera movements, meticulous staging, and elaborate costumes. “The Favourite” is a brilliant film in its own right, while its impact on Colman’s career gives it an especially meaningful connection to “Wicker.”