The project was initially to be directed by French actress Sophie Marceau, who was hired in late 2008.
The mini-series was shot in 52 days, the exact same amount of time it took Stendhal to write the source novel.
The mini-series garnered merely average success among French viewers. The first part was watched by 2.2 million viewers (a 9.2% audience share) and the second part by 2.01 million viewers (a 7.9% audience share). In both instances it was the fourth most watched program of the night.