The Wicker Husband Is Kind, Devoted, and Made of Branches — Why Women Are Obsessed With 'Wicker'

There’s a movie called Wicker where the romantic lead is a man constructed entirely of branches, played by Alexander Skarsgaard, and it currently holds a 94 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. On paper it sounds like an absurd joke. In practice, it’s tapping into something women have been saying for years: kindness and emotional presence go a very long way.

Therapists and sex educators have weighed in on why the character resonates so hard, and the answer isn’t really about the wicker. It’s about the devotion. Anna Richards of Frolicme.com noted that these qualities shouldn’t be extraordinary, they should be the foundations of a healthy relationship. Set that against survey data from Equimundo, Ipsos and King’s College London showing that large shares of men still hold rigid ideas about“alpha”behavior and obedience in marriage, and the fantasy starts to make a lot of sense.

To be clear, a made-to-order partner isn’t the answer. Real relationships require two imperfect people supporting each other. But the film’s buzz has opened a genuinely useful conversation about what women actually want and why it sometimes feels so out of reach. So what’s the bare-minimum green flag that would make you swoon? Tell us in the comments.