Andrzej Zulawski began filming after the success of L'important c'est d'aimer (1975), completing around three-quarters of film before the Polish ministry of culture halted production in 1978. After the democratization of Poland in 1986 Zulawski completed the film.
Because production was interrupted from 1978 until 1986, the final film was released in an "amputated" form, with voice-over narration covering missing scenes.
Most copies and screenings before 2016 feature an unnatural tint.
To imprint a color palette desaturated of warm tones, green filters were used for most of the outdoor shooting. Film labs, not having gotten that message and thinking something had gone wrong- tried to re-balance it - towards this unnatural result.
Only much later -with the help of digital restoration- was it possible to re-instate the color palette intended by the director. It was presented to Zulawski a few months before his passing. (All of this according to member of Polish Film company Kadr, told at the screening at The 2017 Berlin International Film Festival)
The film is based on a novel of the same name written around 1900 by Andrej Zulawski's granduncle Jerzy Zulawski. The novel is part of a trilogy known as The Lunar Trilogy.
All the lines of dialogue by Andrzej Seweryn (Marek), were overdubbed by Michal Bajor.
This film has a 100% rating based on 6 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.