 The French , German and Hungarian co @-@ production of the film was fraught with difficulty and obstacles . The first of these was the suicide in February 2005 , days before shooting was due to begin , of the film 's French producer , Humbert Balsan . As the original financing of the film collapsed , the remaining producers managed to secure stop @-@ gap funding which allowed them to shoot nine days of footage on the expensive Corsican sets , until they were shut down through legal action by the local subcontractor . After many expressions of support from European film organisations , production companies and government bodies , a new co @-@ production contract was signed in July 2005 with a revised budget and shooting schedule . It then emerged that all rights to the film had been ceded to a French bank under the original production agreement , and only after further changes in the film 's backers was a deal struck with the bank to allow shooting to resume in March 2006 , over a year later than had been originally envisaged . 
