This film marks actress
Monica Vitti's directing debut. In the story, Magherita (Monica) has been married to her husband Paolo (Gino Pernice) for a long time, and doesn't appear to listen to her or notice what she does. A movie director friend of hers ({Elliott Gould) gives her a video-camera with remote control capacity for her birthday, and she hits on the notion of using it to film a kind of family diary. In addition to her own confessions to the lens, she sometimes leaves it on when she's not in the room. When one of these tapings reveals that her husband has been having an affair with her best friend (
Catherine Spaak), she confronts her friend - who reveals that the affair has been going on for over a decade. After kicking her husband out, she becomes melancholy and attempts suicide. Just as the pills are taking effect, her director friend comes in to tell her that he's been looking at the tapes she's been making, and thinks they will make a great film, which doesn't please her much. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide