The title is in French and the main character is named Sarah in order to pay homage to Sarah Baartman.
The lead character Cuvier is actually a traditional white male character who is in fact portrayed by a remarkably talented Half Mexican, Half Irish transgender male actor.
The script was written based on three different accounts. 1) The historical account of Sarah Baartman 2) a CNN article about a Mexican woman named Karla Jacinto who was raped 43,200 times 3) and another story about an unnamed immigrant woman who lived in a dog cage lined with newspaper in the U.S. for almost a year.
The lead actress is Sri Lankan.
The cast list was meant to be slightly bigger but the director cut a few roles out of the film because he felt their significance wasn't necessary.