Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay was loosely based on the 1988 biography Picasso: Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington.

We see other scenes of seduction, quarrels, and selfishness, but Picasso and Françoise have two children and move to the South of France near Cannes, but problems persist.

In addition to Françoise, the film depicts several of the women who were important in Picasso's life, such as Olga Khokhlova, Dora Maar, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and Jacqueline Roque.

[2] The Merchant-Ivory team was not able to obtain the rights to Gilot’s own autobiography, or the permission to show any of Picasso’s artwork.

Commissioned fake Picasso paintings were made for the film that was shot in Paris and in the South of France.