The director characterises her enigmatic drama set in an English girls’ school in 1969 as a story of twisted adolescence during an era that itself was coming of age. Sixteen-year-old Abbie and Lydia are best friends. A tragedy at the school triggers a mysterious epidemic among the pupils. The authorities claim there is nothing seriously wrong, but Lydia refuses to accept this and, in seeking the truth, discovers a long-buried secret. Morley’s inspiration for her aesthetically creative film, which exercises formal subtlety to capture the girls’ feelings and the atmosphere of the time, was the poetic realism of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and director Roy Andersson’s portrayal of the sexuality of teenagers in A Swedish Love Story (En kärlekshistoria, 1969). “1969 was a fascinating year. While the British bemoaned the introduction of the new fifty-pence coin, it was also the year man landed on the Moon. My characters are emblematic of the period, teenagers trying to reach out for new, unexplored ways while the adults look back, unable to relinquish the past,” states the director.