The film takes place in 1955.
Even though this was filmed in the interior of British Columbia (Canada), the city bench scene with Christine Lahti sleeping after picking berries was actually filmed in the main square of Port Coquitlam. The city hall is adjacent to this central square on Shaughnessy Street (the main thoroughfare of this Vancouver suburb).
Bill Forsyth later described his film as "a commercial to get people to read the novel."
According to Roger Ebert, the character of Sylvie "seemed closer to a mystic, or a saint." Ebert also called the film "one of the strangest and best films of the year."