The book focused on three characters, included a love story in the heart of Auschwitz. The director focuses on the family of Rudolf Höss, camp commander.
The subject was not foreign to Amis, who, in The Arrow of Time, had looked into the case of a Nazi doctor. Ironically, the author died last May, the day the feature film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The Palme d'Or escaped him. Amis recalls a significant anecdote about this type of event: “My father had the only right word regarding literary prizes: they are only of interest if you win them”