L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close)

There's a short epilogue at the end with a view of modern Paris streets, traffic and some streetwalkers, one of whom is a 'twin' to a brothel prostitute. Bertrand Bonello said that Thierry Frémaux, the artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival, asked him to cut it, though the film still made it into the main competition after Bonello refused. "A lot of people thought I was glorifying the brothels of the time, holding them up as an ideal against today's prostitution, but it was actually much simpler than that. I felt I couldn't end inside the brothel but needed a contrast. I wanted to burst this bubble I had created for two hours, to wake the viewer up, and that wake-up is the return to the present", Bonello said.

A character says he's been to the inauguration ceremony of the Paris Metro. After that there is a scene where we hear fireworks for Bastille Day (14 July). The opening of the Paris Metro (Line 1) was on 19 July 1900, five days after Bastille Day.

Dedication before end credits:  "For Charlotte"

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Épisode #2.23 (2011)