This known as 'A Diary of a Murderess', 'A Diary of an erotic Murderess' or 'La encadenada' For the story to work, you have to be invested in the characters. It isn't always easy to care too much about characters who are dubbed into another language, as is the case here. The translation, and often the choice of voice artists, leaves a sense of distance between them and the audience. This is a major challenge with dubbed films, and cannot be blamed on anyone. Happily, the cast here is quite small, and people are introduced in stages rather than all at once, so the issue is lessened. You would be wise to stick with it.
'La encadenada' is a giallo styled mystery involving an emotionally unstable young man Marc (Juan Ribó), and his new nanny. Even given the time this film was made, and the decade's fondness for elderly men to strike up relationships with young women, things are stretched here. Gina (Marisa Mell) is stunningly, classically beautiful, and Alexander (Richard Conte) - for all his wealth and talk of power - is 26 years older. (Given her youthful appearance and the fact that Conte was sadly nearing the end of his life by this time, the gap is more marked.) Of course, if they're both happy, who cares? But are they? This is far from the whole story. The more we learn of the new nanny, the more she learns of why Marc is the way he is.
Marc is clearly highly volatile, and given his behaviour, it is questionable why he hasn't been placed inside a sanatorium. That his mood swings are just tolerated becomes more a little difficult to believe. And yet, Alexander continues to pursue Gina when she has made it clear she is not interested - his behaviour is more creepy than that of his son. The former may well be answered by the latter.
This is intriguing stuff, and it pulls you in the longer you stick with it. Just when you think you understand various motives, something or someone appears that makes things yet more complex. I really enjoyed this - the acting survives the dubbing handsomely, and there is more than enough going on to keep the viewer engaged. My score is 7 out of 10.
