Director Maximilian Schell got Marlene Dietrich to agree to appear in this documentary only on the stipulation that she not be photographed as she looked at the time. Instead, we only hear her in interviews.
Marlene Dietrich expected the film to be a modest conventional film and, when she realized director Maximilian Schell had taken the film in a different direction, she had a falling out with the director and they did not speak for more than a year. However, after the film won several prestigeous awards and was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar, they reconciled.
This film has a 100% rating based on 7 critic reviews on Rotten tomatoes.