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Puffball

  • Film
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars
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.
Written by Wally Hammond

Release Details

  • Rated:18
  • Release date:Friday 18 July 2008
  • Duration:120 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:Nicolas Roeg
  • Cast:
    • Keeley Hawes
    • Miranda Richardson
    • Donald Sutherland
    • Kelly Reilly
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