[1][4] Based on a real murder case that occurred in rural France in 1905, the film stars Dimitri Doré in the title role.

The film was also supported by the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), in the form of an advance on receipts.

In November 2018, Vincent Le Port revealed that it took him 5 years to write the screenplay for his debut feature film, which would be titled Bruno Reidal.

[10][7] In developing the film's screenplay, Vincent Le Port performed archival research, diving into the papers of Alexandre Lacassagne, a forensic physician who founded a school of modern criminology in Lyon.

[13] Le Port became acquainted with Dimitri Doré, who plays Bruno at age 17, through the actor Jean-Luc Vincent, who portrays the doctor Lacassagne.

Le Port was impressed with Doré for being "exactly the same height and weight as the real Bruno Reidal, his high-pitched voice was exactly what I had in mind, the fact that he had never acted in the cinema appealed to me.

"[13][12] Filming took place between 10 July and 21 August 2019,[6] between the communes of Campouriez, Thérondels (Aveyron) and Jabrun (Cantal), as well as Autun (Saône-et-Loire), Magnac-Laval, Montrol-Sénard and the forest of Saint-Léger-la-Montagne (Haute-Vienne).

[2][17] The film's soundtrack features works by composer Olivier Messiaen, including "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus".

Sophie Avon of Sud Ouest wrote that the film has a "sharp beauty that mixes the savagery of the act and the splendor of nature, the atrocity of murder and the fragility of childhood.

The compositions of groups, within the school, the family farm, the reconstructions of the black-and-white postcards of yesteryear [...] come as close as possible to the condition of the peasants of that time.

"[18] Olivier Delcroix of Le Figaro wrote, "Cold, fetishistic, tortured, this stiff psychiatric study is boring to the highest degree.