‘The rules of film making can be taught in five minutes,’ Orson Wells was once told. ‘The rules are learnt in order to be broken.’

Puffball is a film that denies the normal ‘rules’ of cinema as it is not a generic film. As its director, Nicholas Roeg, explained when he was at the Exeter Picturehouse last week: ‘It’s a love story, a horror story, a story about sex. Like our lives.’

Set in the heart of rural Ireland, Puffball explores the forces unleashed from curious minds. Seen though the eyes of four women, all at different stages of their life, this film steers the audience through a journey of witchcraft and sabotage. When Liffy, an ambitious, English architect, moves to the village she falls pregnant. Her neighbour Mabs (Miranda Richardson) is desperate, to the point of obsession, to have a son and convinces herself that Liffy’s unborn child was destined for her own womb.

Roeg’s haunting storytelling formula does Fay Weldon’s novel justice and his exceptional use of visual effects achieved through cinematography enhance the spellbinding plot. However, those unable to detach themselves from the pre-conceptions of cinema risk finding Roeg’s return to the big screen patronising and repetitive, as his use of themes and symbolism are not exercised lightly. Yet, fans of Roeg will be stimulated by lasting, sometimes grotesque images true his style as he plays with his familiar themes of sex, life and death.

Just as Orson Wells was told, Roeg’s first film in 12 years breaks the rules of cinema and sends them spouting like the contents of an exploded puffball.

Posted by Claire Horrocks

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 8:33 am and is filed under Reviews . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.