Nic Roeg’s ghost story, Puffball, set in a damp and remote corner of Ireland, is a far more intelligent, but ultimately frustrating film. Kelly Reilly is magnetic as a young English architect who is stalked by malevolent neighbours when she unexpectedly falls pregnant. Smiles and favours hide poisonous thoughts. The cottage Reilly has bought has raw memories for a spooky grandmother (Rita Tushingham) and her middle-aged daughter (Miranda Richardson). The film squelches ominously between their muddy farm, Reilly’s cottage and an ancient stone with mysterious powers ascribed to Odin.

Roeg is a matchless director of mystery, but this gloomy psychodrama, adapted from a Fay Weldon novel by her son Dan, flirts dangerously with corn. Donald Sutherland is a squirming irrelevance as Reilly’s avuncular mentor, and the less said about Tushingham’s black magic the better. Richardson and Reilly are the star turns, and William Houston is terrific as the farmer who spreads the sexual mustard.

18, 120 minutes

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