At Sundance, the hottest ticket in town was a Rose Byrne and Conan O’Brien psychological thriller

plays a mother struggling with a personal crisis in the psychological thriller "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You."

Expectations were sky-high for the A24 film, scheduled for release sometime this year. Its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on a Friday was the most sought-after ticket in town, with even those who had purchased tickets finding it impossible to gain entry. Those who managed to gain access to the Library theatre were treated to an engrossing, immersive, and imaginative narrative courtesy of filmmaker Mary Bronstein, which has swiftly become one of the festival's most desired events.

A woman, struggling to cope with her daughter's unexplained illness, faces a series of relentless challenges - from a catastrophic event that forces her to relocate to a rundown motel, to an increasingly heated confrontation with a car park attendant at a care facility. The strain is starting to show, taking a profound toll on her mental, emotional and physical resilience.

I'd never seen a film where a mother's going through a traumatic experience with her child, but the focus isn't on the child's struggle, it's on the mother's," Bronstein said at the premiere. "You'd expect to be completely invested in the child, only caring for them, not thinking about your own well-being, essentially. But that's exactly the state of emotional exhaustion I wanted to delve into in this story.

Byrne and Bronstein thoroughly researched before filming, engaging in lengthy discussions about the character Linda, focusing on embedding as much realism as possible into her portrayal before the 27-day shoot. Byrne stated that she was intensely focused on grasping Linda's personality prior to the crisis unfolding. The film, in part, drew inspiration from Bronstein's relationship with her daughter, although she declines to elaborate on the particular details that influenced the story.

“She is the one whose experiences it is hers to recount,” Bronstein said.

A part of Linda's narrative involves her therapist, played by Conan O'Brien, who quipped that he wasn't aware he was in a film.

I'm not interested in movie scripts as such. But when I got a call from A24 saying they wanted me to read this thing, I wasn't daft, was I? I showed it to my wife, who is extremely intelligent, and after she'd read it, she said, 'I hadn't realised they still made films like this'.

He was especially in admiration of his director and co-star, commenting that he felt like a fake standing next to them.

It was a truly fantastic experience, one of the highlights of my life, just being with them and observing how they work," O'Brien said. "I don't know how (Byrne) managed to do that and not end up getting medical treatment afterwards, because I've never seen an actor, male or female, maintain that level of intensity for a whole film.

I'm such a state now; I'm going to have to head to hospital as this is the first time I've ever witnessed something like this," he admitted. "I'm completely distraught.

The accused is awaiting a court hearing, charged with aiming a firearm at a past acquaintance.

The film is replete with vagueness, symbolism and sheer artistic flair that Bronstein fell short of elaborating on, from the title itself to the gaping hole in the ceiling, which takes on a somewhat otherworldly aura.

“When we are completely drained, there's a void inside of us,” Bronstein said. “And that void isn't actually empty: It's packed with darkness, self-doubt, anxiety, fear, dread, regret, and all the rest.”

She said she still doesn't fully comprehend all of it, it is the collective experience the key, and already, both the critics and the Sundance audience have rightly grasped it.

Bronstein, a somewhat enigmatic figure within the film industry, made her directorial debut back in 2008 at the SXSW festival, where her film "Yeast" premiered, starring pre-fame Greta Gerwig. This movie was subsequently praised by New Yorker critic Richard Brody as a "classic of the mumblecore movement."

“'If I Had Legs I’d Kick You' remains her second feature film to date.

Everyone is paying me to express myself through art for the very first time," Bronstein commented. "I'm delighted to say that this is the film that originated from my own thoughts and imagination all the way through to being on the big screen.

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