In the early 1960s, the director Eric Rohmer wrote an adaptation of the Dostoevsky short story that this film is based on. However he was unable to find financing to film the project.
When the movie was released in 1969 in France, it was advertised in newspapers with an additional mark on the poster : "Bresson's first color movie "
The performance of Hamlet was directed by Robert Bresson himself especially for the film.
The copy of Hamlet which the wife is seen reading is André Gide's translation (Gallimard, 1946). It is also the same translation that is played by the actors in a previous scene.