‘Stuffed’ Review: Jodie Comer and Harry Melling Sing the Body Eccentric in an Odd, and Oddly Touching, Taxidermy Musical — SkimNews
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- Theo Rhys directed "Stuffed," his debut feature adapted and expanded from his BAFTA-nominated short of the same name, premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival as a macabre pop-opera musical.
- Jodie Comer plays hermetic amateur taxidermist Araminta opposite Harry Melling as friendless sandwich-factory drone Bernie, with the review praising both for delivering Broadway-level vocal commitment.
- Joss Holden-Rea wrote the film's score, which the reviewer describes as indebted to earnest modern Broadway balladry though in need of more hummable tunes.
- The film premiered at the same TIFF edition as "Prima Facie," the screen adaptation of the stage hit that won Comer a Tony last year — though Cynthia Erivo took over her role for the film version.
- Beck Rainford handled production design, bringing a Wes Anderson-influenced thrift-store aesthetic to the working-class Northern English setting; Holly Rebecca designed the "suitably mothballed costumes."
- The plot centers on a woman advertising for a volunteer to be killed and preserved, and a man who volunteers believing he'd finally be seen once stuffed — yet the reviewer calls the result "sweet" rather than purely horrific.
- The review frames the tonal blend as nodding to the odd-couple romanticism of Richard Curtis and the knife-twisting adult storytelling of Roald Dahl, with a final dose of Shakespearean fatalism.
Why it matters: Comer, fresh off a Tony win for "Prima Facie," doubles down on musical genre risk-taking with a taxidermy-themed film that the reviewer says lands as genuinely poignant rather than grotesque — a tonal achievement that hinges entirely on her and Melling's vocal and emotional conviction. Rhys's expansion of his BAFTA-nominated short into a feature musical is a high-wire debut that broadens Comer's screen portfolio with something far stranger than the prestige legal drama she's associated with.
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