When Patricia Gozzi weeps at he end of the movie, she really cries, with real tears. She was afraid of the scene several days in advance and the director improvised when he felt that Gozzi was ready for it.
Decades later after the shooting, Patricia Gozzi confessed that her father at this time, in 1960, was not disturbed by the role she, a child, had with an adult. For her father, they were just friends, nothing more. Child molesting or pedophile matters were not even in people's mind.
When the movie was shown in the USA, the test project screen was too narrow for the 2.35 frame and the director, who was there to check, had an argument about the fact that the film was spoiled. But everything was eventually fixed a couple of days later.
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #728.
Denise Péron's debut.