Writer/director Louis Garrel's mother, Brigitte Sy, worked 20 years in prisons for theater workshops.
Was inspired by the story of writer/director Louis Garrel's mother, Brigitte Sy, who did theater workshops in prison and who directed her first feature film on this subject, Les mains libres (2010), where her character, played by Ronit Elkabetz, does just that. In love with a prisoner (Carlo Brandt), she is seen in the first scene of the film marrying him, which is also how L'innocent (2022) begins. According to Louis Garrel, in L'innocent (2022), it is the story of this marriage from the son's point of view. When his mother got married in prison, Louis Garrel was 17, and was not permitted to be present, as he was under age..
Director Louis Garrel decided to work with Noémie Merlant after seeing her in Jacques Audiard's Les Olympiades (2021) where Garrel liked her lightness and depth. With his own words, Garrel "sensed something clownish in her, which [he] wanted to bring out."
As with his three previous features, La croisade (2021), L'homme fidèle (2018), and Les deux amis (2015), Louis Garrel continues playing his alter ego, Abel.
Shot in Lyon.