Trivia

Director Paul Verhoeven had agreed to do the movie based on a elaborate synopsis, in which the story of protagonist Keetje Tippel was told in parallel with a period drama depicting the social circumstances and political unrest of the time. With pre-production well under way, he and screenwriter Gerard Soeteman elaborated the synopsis into a complete script, but it was vetoed as being too expensive by producer Rob Houwer. He ordered them to focus on the personal drama and remove most of the social issues, including several scenes of mass rebellion and revolt that were Verhoeven's main reasons for taking on the project.

Director Paul Verhoeven experienced immense pressure to come up with a worthy follow-up for his critically and commercially successful Turkish Delight (1973). He clashed repeatedly with producer Rob Houwer over the screenplay and didn't get the budget to make this movie on the epic scale he had intended. He has been quoted as saying that if he could ever redo one of his movies, it would be this one.

Disagreement over the script was not the only issue causing trouble during production. Director of photography Jan de Bont and Monique van de Ven had become a couple since meeting on the set of Turkish Delight (1973). De Bont was very uncomfortable with his wife's nude shots, which caused a tense atmosphere on the set. At one point, a local prostitute was hired to stand-in for van de Ven during a nude scene. Also, director Paul Verhoeven's wife Martine, a psychologist, was brought on the set to ease some of the tensions.

With a budget of two million guilders, this was the most expensive Dutch movie at the time of its release. The record was broken with Paul Verhoeven's subsequent movie, Soldier of Orange (1977).

Filming was done in The Hague, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden, and Brussels to provide an appropriate nineteenth century setting. Even so, many times, a baker's car or basket weavers had to be placed to strategically hide twentieth century antennas, parking meters, and supermarkets from view.