After director Henri-Georges Clouzot bought the film rights to the original novel, he reportedly beat Alfred Hitchcock by only a matter of hours.
Henri-Georges Clouzot was convinced that Simone Signoret was playing the character incorrectly because she, the actress, knew the ending of the movie and, thus, was giving away too much to the audience with her characterization. One day on the set, Clouzot said angrily, "I should have never let you read the end of the script!"
Despite losing out on the chance to make the film, Alfred Hitchcock was a big fan. Indeed, some state that it had an influence on the making of Psychose (1960).
The film is based on Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac's novel "Celle qui n'était plus" (She Who Was No More). Alfred Hitchcock also attempted to buy the rights to this novel; Boileau and Narcejac subsequently wrote "D'Entre les Morts" (From Among the Dead) especially for Hitchcock, who filmed it as Sueurs froides (1958).
The film gained extra notoriety five years later when Véra Clouzot died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 46. Her character in the film suffers from a weak heart.