Stuffed had one of the most intriguing premises of this year’s TIFF selections: what if there was a taxidermist who wanted to stuff a human?
Written by Andie Kaiser
Theo Rhys’ Stuffed had one of the most intriguing premises of this year’s TIFF selections: what if there was a taxidermist who wanted to stuff a human? The wackiness of this idea alone might be enough to hook audiences, but there’s more. What if there was also someone who, upon meeting this taxidermist, agreed to be stuffed? And what if all of this was told in the form of a musical?
Such is the setup for the wildly ambitious Stuffed, which stars Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) as the eccentric taxidermist Araminta and Harry Melling (Pillion) as Bernie, her willing victim and muse. Both characters are captivating in their own strange way, and are brought to life by fully committed performances from Comer and Melling, who do a lot of heavy lifting to keep the film afloat. Because while I was hoping to be presented with a successful blend of storytelling and music, it felt as though in trying to do both, the film couldn’t quite get its arms around either.
The story (by Rhys and co-writer Joss Holden-Rea, who also wrote the music) follows an outcast Araminta as she attempts to recruit the perfect participant for her next project and lifelong dream: human taxidermy. Having stuffed and displayed just about everything else one could think of, she wanted to be the first person to make someone else "live forever." In comes Bernie: a depressed, purposeless man who spends his days working in anonymity at a sandwich factory and checking up on his mother, who has dementia and no longer remembers him. With seemingly nothing to live for, he responds to Araminta’s cryptic advertisement in the hopes that he can somehow leave his mark in the world before dying.
All of this takes place through a mixture of regular dialogue and song, the latter of which mostly takes the form of monologue-like reflections on our characters’ motivations and woes. Comer and Melling do their best to sell these moments through emotive singing and choreography, but this unfortunately cannot change the fact that the songs themselves are just not that interesting lyrically or melodically. Where the film’s musical sequences should have added something energetically different to the story, many ended up feeling like diversions that went over the same territory, both in terms of the songs’ content and style. Moment to moment, there were entertaining parts of these numbers, but I wouldn’t have been able to recall any particular lyrics or melodies after leaving the theatre.
The dynamic between Araminta and Bertie was the strongest feature of this story by a mile, and both actors play this relationship with a sincerity that elevates it from a gimmick into something genuinely affecting. When their affection for one another starts to interfere with their own plans and values, some real tension begins to develop. I’m not the first to make the comparison, but there’s a particular sequence near the end that’s very reminiscent of 2022’s Bones and All, and it’s this kind of uncomfortable-yet-undeniably tender energy where the film, to me, finds its strongest voice, rather than through its shock-value or musical efforts.
Stuffed had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10th.
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