The only real draw for me for this romantic fantasy, written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, was the casting of Olivia Colman in the lead role. She plays a fisherwoman ostracised by the residents of the village she sells her wares. So, overwhelmed with loneliness, she commissions the local basketmaker to weave her a husband.
Colman is, inevitably, a delight, even if the role is hardly a stretch, though Alexander Skarsgård has little chance to impress as her woven husband. Colman is well supported by Peter Dinklage as the basketmaker and Elizabeth Debicki as a meddling tailor’s wife. Her character, like all the others, does not have a name. The men are called after their occupations and the women, apart from the fisherwoman, are indicated as their spouses. That demonstrates the very heavy handed attempt at satire that Fischer and Wilson include in their screenplay.
They provide the colourful characters a few chuckles but the story soon starts to drag. Once the premise is established, it has nowhere interesting or unexpected to go. It would have made a pleasingly quirky short film. At 105 minutes it really began to test my patience.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10