The film is based on Volume 1 of Marcel Proust's novel "In Search of Lost Time" (1919) which is commonly known as "Swann's Way". Show-business trade paper 'Variety' reported that the film represents "the second part of the first volume of Marcel Proust's monumental book."
One of a number of filmed literary adaptations of director Volker Schlöndorff who is well-known for adapting literature into film.
Show-business trade paper 'Variety' said of this film that "scripters do a cut and paste job on the text, lifting, transposing and dovetailing episodes and dialog from all over the [source] novel and concentrating them into a single 24-hour period."
The film's source Marcel Proust novel "In Search of Lost Time" has been more commonly known as "Remembrance of Things Past." It's contents is contained within seven volumes in total.