In reference to the nude scenes, Karin Albou said: "It's very difficult to shoot a love scene in Tunisia ... and even more difficult to show a woman's sex being waxed. Some people on the set were shocked, especially as it was a woman who was doing it! So, fortunately, I was surrounded by people who were free in their minds. But it wasn't easy.
Director Karin Albou had difficulty casting the role of Nour due to the extensive nudity. She originally intended to cast a Muslim Tunisian girl before broadening her search to all Tunisians and then going to Algeria to search for actresses. After failing to find any actresses willing to appear naked she moved on to France where she finally found Olympe Borval who was willing to take on the role. Borval had to learn Arabic for the movie.
In reference to the scene in which Myriam has her vulva completely shaved, Lizzie Brocheré was offered a body double: "I had read the part in the script, but a hair removal scene is not necessarily a close-up," Brocheré says. "We were already in Tunisia when I realized how she would look. Afterwards, I wanted to do it, because it's a symbol. It's a very violent image. And above all, it's still practiced: women get oriental waxing before the wedding, and when it's really done with caramel, it's a real pain. The understudy finally stepped in halfway through. The fact remains that this is the subject of the film: the passage to adulthood in a male world to which one must conform."
The movie was loosely inspired by letters Karin Albou's Algerian Jewish grandmother wrote her husband in Nazi occupied Algeria.