Lead actress Tilda Swinton learned both Italian and Russian for the part, neither of which she spoke before filming.
This is the third of five collaborations between director Luca Guadagnino and actress Tilda Swinton. The others are The Protagonists (1999), Tilda Swinton: The Love Factory (2002), A Bigger Splash (2015) and Suspiria (2018).
The title is taken from a line of the aria "La mamma morta", part of the 1896 opera "Andrea Chénier" by Umberto Giordano.