Official submission of Denmark to the best foreign language film category of the 87th Academy Awards 2015.
The outdoor scenes of the house, where the tragedy happened, are shot at the directors own house.
In her preparation for the role, Helle Fagralid spent a day in a psychiatric ward in Helsingør, where she was allowed to follow patients who were on the same medicine that Signe should have in the film.
Iben's character, played by Maja Dybboe, is based on actress Line Arlien-Søborg, who worked in three of Nils Malmros's previous films, Baum der Erkenntnis (1981), Skønheden og udyret (1983) and Århus by night (1989). In Sorg og glæde (2013), Malmros tells how he fell in love with then young actress and how this contributed to his wife's depression. When the film was released, Arlien-Søborg attacked Malmros, saying he manipulated reality and that she never had a flirt with him. Malmros, for his part, said, "Line is right that we had no flirtation. A flirt is something mutual. On the contrary, I have flirted with her. It's one way. I'm just saying that it's part of being a film director."
It's an autobiographical film that recounts the 1984 tragic event in which director Nils Malmros's wife, suffering from bipolar disorder, killed their infant daughter with a knife.