The episodes in which the main character is involved are each marked off by a tracking shot, 13 of them.
The tracking shots that mark each "chapter" are thematically inked to each other. In one example, a tracking shot ends on a telephone booth, and the subsequent tracking shot starts on a different telephone booth. A second couplet is linked by shots of farm equipment, a third couplet is linked by shots of tires, etc.
The original French title, Vagabond (1985) (With neither Shelter nor Law), is a play on a common French idiom, "sans foi ni loi," meaning "with neither faith nor law." It also puns on sans toi ("without you").
At about 2:43 in the film, as the police are inspecting the scene, an odd hill with two cypress trees can be seen in the background. That hill with trees was photographed, from almost the same perspective, for the cover of Elvis Costello's album "Goodbye Cruel World." Ironic, considering the scene in the film. The album was released about 15 months earlier than the film.
Named the 59th greatest movie of all time by Variety in 2022.