Cassie McCullough

Car pulls up, kid's out.

And I think there's a line in there, oh, but I'll miss Countdown, you know.

So it's quite an iconic short film of Jane Campion's.

In fact, it won a Palme d'Or at Cannes for short films back in the mid-'80s.

But it sounds like this story is a much darker version of a kid being left out of a car, the girl who was left on the side of the road in the dark.

What happens?

Can you tell us anything about that without any spoilers, Petronella?

Yes.

I love your point about that freestyle childhood, but also the slightly neglectful parenting, which is something I've been guilty of.

I've left my child, my son, Riley, beside the road once when he was about seven or eight.

But it wasn't out of punishment.

It was just out of sheer neglect and clearness.

I just...

I just drove off without him.

And, you know, happily going off on my own.

I think I got about 20 minutes and then the phone was ringing in the car and I was like, Riley, Riley, answer that phone.

And I finally turned around and he wasn't there.

And, in fact, it was him on the phone.

He'd managed to get someone to call me.

So there you go.