Director Catherine Breillat admitted to choosing Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi to play Paolo because she wanted a well-endowed actor in the role.
The only theatrical release in Alberta (since the current rating system began in 1997) to receive an "A" rating. ("A" is "Adult" and, in every other case, is only applied to hardcore pornography.)
While it was passed uncut for theatrical release in the UK, a one-second cut was made for its video release.
Rocco Siffredi is still smarting from an earlier controversy, the did-they-didn't-they sex scene with Caroline Ducey in Romance (1999). It was, he recalls, a fraught day. "There was a bit of a clash and I had to leave the set to calm down," he says. "Caroline seemed to be frightened of me and was crying. When I came back I could not get an erection - it was awful. But then something happened and I began to get back my powers and she put a condom on me and I took her.
"Afterwards that scene caused a lot of problems. She kept phoning me in Italy saying I was mad to tell people that we had sex. I had to tell that I know when I have had sex."