Although Salomé Stévenin was already used to doing nude scenes, she was hesitant to accept this role in the film directed by René Féret because he wanted her nudity to be complete, including showing her shaved vulva. "His script upset me, but I didn't imagine myself in it. Finally, I gave in. For him," said Stévenin, who, however, got to wear a flesh-colored g-string in her frontal nude scene.
The director's niece and her husband had a similar real life story six years before. Féret had an idea for the screenplay and asked her if he could write it. She said yes. The letter read by the doctor at the end was written to the niece by Féret at the time of the event..