The original title, "Los Amantes de Tetuán", was shortened to simply "Amantes" to avoid confusion with the North African city of the same name. The events were moved from the 1940s to an unspecific time in the 1950s. for both economic and dramatic reasons. It was cheaper to recreate the period of the 1950s, and Aranda considered the decade more appealing for modern audiences. The real life crime story was treated in the same way Billy Wilder used the facts that inspired his adaptation of "Double Indemnity", the novel by James M. Cain. "Las Edades de Lulu", a movie directed by Bigas Luna and which had been seen by Aranda, inspired the eroticism of the film.