It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on 20 May 2006 and received a limited release in the United States on 7 March 2007.

The film is semi-autobiographical; in 2002, director Brisseau had been arrested on charges of harassment, fined and given a suspended one-year prison sentence.

On 31 October 2007, two actresses, one of whom stars in The Exterminating Angels, accused Brisseau of rape, sexual assault and harassment for a period from August 2005 to September 2007.

According to her, Brisseau would have promised a leading role in one of his films and asked for that to work these intimate scenes.

A judicial investigation was opened, the man was heard as an assisted witness, but the procedure was abandoned for lack of evidence to establish "non-consent".