Widescale theatrical release in the USA was long delayed by the difficulty in licensing the soundtrack.
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #944.
The poem Gilles recites in the woods is part of Allen Ginsberg's anti-Vietnam War poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra."
Part of IMA Films' "Tous les garcons et les filles de leur age" series, conceived by former publicist Chantal Poupaud. Nine directors were each commissioned to make a film about teenagers, set in the period of their own youth.