Director Adler based her ideas for the script on forensic psychiatrist Estela Weldon's book "Mother Madonna Whore" which argues that, whereas men externalize their grieving processes through anger, women internalize them via paths which can incorporate such extreme reactions as mutilation and promiscuity.
Re the lead character (played as debut role by Samantha Morton), writer and director Carine Adler stated at the time: "Why should I make a nice film about a nice woman who is understanding and sympathetic? That's the way we like to see ourselves; and there are enough films about that." [Contemporary interview in 'Irish Times' newspaper; 12.97.]