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Puffball (2007)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

2 reviews

Synopsis

It’s been more than a decade since Nicolas Roeg’s last theatrical feature release, so his new project has aroused considerable interest. It’s based on Fay Weldon’s 1980 novel about Liffey, a rich, naive young housewife who moves to a country cottage and arouses the supernatural ire of her witchy neighbour by getting pregnant. It’s been updated by Weldon’s son Dan – Liffey is now an architect – and features Miranda Richardson, Rita Tushingham and Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’ star Donald Sutherland.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Nic Roeg’s long-awaited return to the big screen takes the form of an atmospheric if modestly scaled adaptation of a Fay Weldon novel about the threatening ‘pagan’ mire that envelops a young female English architect (Kelly Reilly) who’s come to an Irish hamlet to redevelop a cottage with a past. Roeg conjures reasonably lightly with Weldon’s teasing feminist-inflected, ‘Wicker-Man’-lite allusions, blending a naturalistic, psychologically heightened shooting style with sexual frankness and gynaecological inserts as the newcomer’s sexual dalliance with a neighbour’s husband sets up a witches’ brew of jealousies, rivalries and miscarriage-inducing potions. The performances are uneven: Reilly is fresh and spontaneous, but Rita Tushingham’s ancient crone, peering ominously through windows, seems a little stock and Donald Sutherland – as Reilly’s guru-like boss who visits offering maxims on renewal – is too ethereal. The steadfast stare of a sheep dog is genuinely creepy.

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 1977, July 10 -16, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Heather Richardson said...

Posted on Jul 17 2008 13:44 Rarely, possibly never, have I endured such a completely dreadful film. The acting varied from not very convincing to sub am-dram, the script was dire, dire, dire, the insertion (and I use the word advisedly) of graphic sex-education style shots of orgasm and a growing foetus helped to drag the whole down to bad film student level. What were probably intended to be moments of suspense were so clearly telegraphed in advance as to render them risible. And perhaps Donald Sutherland was, rightly, ashamed of the dreadful lines he had to utter, choosing to mutter and mumble his way through them.
There is more, so much more that I could say about this film, but the kindest thing I can do is advise you to give it a wide berth.

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Paul Shaddick said...

Posted on Nov 12 2007 14:08 I have been a fan of Nick Roeg's since 'Don't look now' first appeared and looked forward to this film eagerly. The screening I attended was part of the Bath Film festival, with the customary introduction before the film. In this instance rather than someone in their 2nd year of film studies we were treated to an appearance by Fay Weldon, her son Dan, Mr Roeg himself and Rita Tushingham (looking fantastic for the night). Their 'introduction' consisted of a rambling un-scripted conversation between themselves with many half thought out concepts and ideas put forward all wrapped up in package of intellectual refection for us lesser mortals edification.
In fact this turned out to be a very apposite warm up for what we were about to see.
Puffball is a rambling incoherent dramatisation of Fay Weldon's book. You wonder throughout the film where it is going and what it's trying to say, and having got to the end can truthfully conclude nowhere and nothing. It barely entertains along the way.
The characters are, except for Miranda Richardson's, undeveloped, unbelievable and allowed to overact like mad.
There were several almost comical moments in the film, and I consider myself not the most cynical of people. One notable example being when Liffey's boyfriend is informed she has gone into labour breaks off his punch up with the real father and hops into the back of his adversary's pick up truck to charge back, like the 5th US Cavalry, to help. But boys being boys he doesn't climb into the passenger seat like you or I but rides the flatbed clinging manfully on to the roof bars giving a very dramatic rescue entrance. In itself a trivial point but symptomatic of a lot of the film where we are being asked frequently to suspend disbelief. The most notable and frequent example of this being the intermittent workings of the loaned generator, that was totally superfluous as Miranda seemed to be successfully running a major IT centre in her tent, presumably powered off the car battery before it's arrival. And whilst we're on the subject couldn't someone bang a few more pegs in.
My favourite scenes were Donald Sutherland's cameo appearances as a mad senior partner from Miranda's old practice. Poor old Donald wanders around grinning maniacally like a cheshire cat mumbling words of architectural design wisdom, ruefully confessing to having always wanted to see an ancient fertility stone. What's wrong with grabbing a guide book and taking a look at the nearest one? He simply comes across as barking mad, or did I not suspend my disbelief enough.
I suspect that younger members of the this project have been overawed by the combined presence of Weldon (by proxy through her son) and Roeg into creating a slightly dotty product instead of following their own intuitions.
Finally listen out for the sound effects. We are treated to many intra-uteral sequences and embryos growing inside the proverbial Puffball, each one accompanied by Jacque Cousteau underwater bubbling and squelching sounds.

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