Actors Richard Anconina and Sophie Marceau did not get along with director Maurice Pialat during filming. Marceau, who was brought to tears by Pialat, refused to promote the film upon release.
In one scene, Gérard Depardieu's character stops to look at a magazine featuring François Truffaut on the cover. This is a tribute to the famed director who died a week before filming and with whom Depardieu had collaborated with on Le Dernier Métro (1980) and La femme d'à côté (1981).
In 2023, Sophie Marceau talked about Gérard Depardieu's "inadmissible" behavior during filming.
In a scene in bed, for example, Depardieu went much further, placing his hands on the actress under the sheets. "He never dared touch me in front of the crew, otherwise he would have received my fist in the face," she said on the subject.
For another scene, Maurice Pialat is said to have asked Depardieu to actually slap the teenager to make a police interrogation scene as credible as possible. Depardieu is said to have hit Marceau harder and harder as the scenes progressed. Exhausted and humiliated, the actress finally broke down in tears.
Screenwriter Catherine Breillat wrote a novelization of the film at the same time as she wrote the screenplay, which angered director Maurice Pialat, who fired her before changing his mind.