The film created a scandal in 1935 because of its raunchy orgy scenes and of a brief shot showing Edwige Feuillère naked.
In her autobiography 'Les feux de la mémoire', Edwige Feuillère recalled her nude pool scene in this movie. "To save money, the depth of the pool had been reduced to eighty centimeters, that is to say that I had to drag myself on my knees without fear of scratching them until I bled. So I could offer the camera a marmoreal chest and a smiling face! In fact, it was a real torture. The nudity, however chaste, of Lucrèce made the success of the film all over the world. And also the scandal," she wrote.