Two Males for Alexa

Not sure if this film evens answers to my own personal definitions of being a Giallo, but for sure it's a typically vile and sinister early 70s exploitation product like only the Italians could make them!

The sensationally beautiful Rosalba Neri ("Lady Frankenstein", "The French Sex Murders") stars as what you'd refer to as the ultimate gold-digger gal. She, Alexa, is determined to marry a rich old man, and doesn't waste any time as she easily seduces her college friend's wealthy father Ronald Marvelling, who's a widower and a frequently traveling business tycoon. Alexa also doesn't have the decency - or the patience - to wait for him to die and collect the inheritance, but promptly begins a steaming love-affair with the hunky Pietro. Unfortunately, but not entirely unpredictably, Ronald didn't get so rich and powerful because he's a weak and pitiable victim. He finds out about his young wife's adultery and prepares for a deadly trap in their little love nest. Ronald kills himself (or dies from a heart-attack, that wasn't very clear) in front of the couple, and promptly the bedroom turns into a hermetically sealed and inescapable tomb.

The original (for 1971, at least) premise, the absorbing narrative structure (through non-chronological flashbacks), and the convincing performances of both Rosalba Neri & Curd Jürgens are enough reasons for me to label "Two Males for Alexa" as a worthwhile cult flick. I do regret not being able to find a fully uncut version, though. In the barely 80 minutes version I watched, there isn't a single nude sequence (which is simply impossible in a Rosalba Neri film) and the already limited number of action footage is missing as well. Can't say for sure if "Two Males for Alexa" formed the inspiration, but similar plots featured more recently in other (modest) cult movies like "Alexandra's Project", "Gerald's Game", and "Till Death".

Stepping into this film feels like walking across a thick, ornate carpet into a room that is simultaneously opulent and suffocating. The velvet curtains are drawn, muffling the outside world and trapping the stale, heated atmosphere of betrayal and fear within. Here, the action takes place almost entirely inside a single, sumptuous bedroom suite, where director Juan Logar forces us to sit with the protagonists in their psychological wreckage.

Rosalba Neri is undeniably the film's magnetic center, a performance that elevates the material above simple exploitation. She plays Alexa not as a one-dimensional villainess or a simple victim, but as a complicated woman driven by a sincere, if selfish, hunger for life. This inherent complexity, established early on, is crucial, providing necessary ballast to the intense melodrama. While the film's heart beats with the grand, theatrical rhythm of a soap opera, its intelligence shines through in the subtle moral wrestling. The overall pacing, it must be acknowledged, can feel deliberative, almost stagey, but this slowness is arguably a necessary evil, allowing the narrative's psychological tension to ferment in the enclosed space. Dialogue authenticity is surprisingly strong, especially in the moments where Mannering's calculated cruelty cuts through the lovers' initial defiance with surgical precision.

Cinematography often favors tight close-ups, emphasizing the sweat, the fear, and the raw expressions of the trio as they navigate their confinement. This visual choice amplifies the melodrama, turning what might have been a simple low-budget picture into something more immediate and visceral. The score leans heavily into the dramatic, perhaps bordering on the overwrought in certain swells, yet it perfectly suits the film's melodramatic, almost feverish intentions. Logar, also the co-writer, uses the intentional constraints of the single setting for psychological effect, forcing every interaction to feel heightened.

Three specific elements lingered in my mind long after the credits rolled. First, the subtle shift in Alexa's eyes during a moment of late confession, suggesting she truly questions her life choices and their cost. Second, the masterful, ambiguous use of flashbacks, which forces the audience to constantly re-evaluate their own judgment of all three leads, blurring the lines between truth and self-serving memory. Third, the sheer nerve of the film to conclude with such profound moral uncertainty, refusing the easy catharsis of definitive, black-and-white justice. This kind of claustrophobic, high-concept drama immediately recalls works like Roman Polanski's early chamber pieces, where social and psychological boundaries erode within an inescapable, ornate space. Though Logar's film is less surreal, it shares that unsettling, stage-play sensibility, utilizing the constraints of the budget to magnify human pathology.

Viewers who appreciate low-budget, character-driven European melodrama and chamber thrillers, particularly those who enjoy the intricate, uncomfortable dynamics of the era's Euro-cult cinema, will find much to admire here. The focus on character psychology and moral ambiguity makes it compelling viewing. However, those strictly seeking a fast-paced, traditional revenge thriller, complete with clear-cut heroes and villains, might find the film's deliberate pacing and theatrical confinement challenging, perhaps preferring faster, more explicit action sequences.

Old school giallo with a much different premise, told mainly in flashback, so although there's a lack of gore, things still feel pretty refreshing.

What you have here is the story of Alexa, a young Rosalba Neri who has married an old Curt Jurgens, much to the annoyance of her fellow student Emma Cohen, mainly because Curt is her dad. We find out right away that Rosalba is having an affair with hunky Pietro, and both of them aren't so discreet about what they are up to (check them out on the beach at the start of the film. Rosalba's standing there in the buff when there's clearly passers-by getting on about their business. Intentionally left in? Who knows.)

At the same time we see this, we were also shown that Rosalba's husband is up to something at their little love nest, checking doors, windows and such like, so we get the drop that he knows about the affair and is planning on doing something too. What it is though I'm not revealing, as it puts a nice twist on the tired genre and sets up the story for flashback city, and of course further twist.

Usually these films have people scheming against each other and everything comes to a head, but by playing these cards early you do get caught up in the story and wonder what's going to become of the main characters. As usual, Rosalba Neri, although frequently shedding clothes, is also a good actress, so you get to feel her pain. On the other hand, Emma Cohen gets underused as Curt Jurgen's daughter.

A good film about bad decisions and regrets. And greed.

What is the price they have to pay, those who cheat in love, the adulterers? They deserve death? One thing is certain, for those who are cheated, life is not life anymore, it becomes unbearable, it becomes a slow death. I saw Curd Jürgens in many movies and I do not consider myself a fan of. But here I liked it how he lived Ronald Marvelling's character. Rosalba Neri, which usually shows her charms (neither here no exception), shows that she can also play well, she's not brilliant, but convincing. Juan Luis Galiardo is OK in the role of Pietro too. Emma Cohen is also credible in the role of Catherine. Piero Piccioni's music is not amazing, just functional. In conclusion, a good movie, except the end, which is disappointing.

This movie is about a young woman who marries the wealthy father of a university friend, but quickly falls in love with a younger man. The jilted husband hatches an unusual plan for revenge by framing the adulterous couple with his own murder and sealing them in a room in his isolated villa with his dead body. Since most of this movie takes place in a single location,the movie quickly becomes paranoid and claustrophobic as the young couple fall apart debating about what has happened and what to do about it.

This Italian-Spanish co-production to some extent resembles the then popular Italian gialli, but it lacks a lot of the more garish and delirious elements of that genre. It stars Rosalba Neri as the unfaithful wife (who was perhaps a little long in the tooth to be playing a university student). Unfortunately, the dubbed Spanish-language copy I saw edited out all of her no doubt copious nude scenes as Spanish censors at that time was wont to do (Damn Generalisismo Franco! First, he kills hundreds of thousands of people, then he sets up a 40 year fascist dictatorship, and now this!).

This was obviously a very low-budget movie and it's very limited in its sets, but at least it doesn't last long enough for anyone to get too bored. The version I saw (on Mexican television) looked pretty decent at least, but I would have preferred an unedited version (and with some English subtitles). Worth a look though I guess.

Addendum: I recently saw the French version, which does have some brief nudity from Neri (but still might be cut). Unfortunately, this probably doesn't justify the crappy looking, full-screen presentation, but if you find the English-subtitled version the previous reviewer mentioned, well, maybe. . .