“The Diary” (El Diario, 2024) is a psychological thriller that delves into the chilling dynamics of a mother and her daughter. The film introduces us to Olga, who has moved into a new house with her daughter Vera. Still a child, Vera has gone through a lot of trauma, and Olga does everything to help Vera heal. The move to the new house terrifies Olga as she becomes trapped between disturbing paranormal occurrences and reality. As Olga starts to see visions and apparitions, she realizes there is a link between the supernatural and her daughter Vera.
This article contains spoilers.
The Diary (El Diario, 2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“The Diary” opens with a young Vera calling out to her dog, Nelson, in the woods. Suddenly, Vera halts when she hears a gunshot. In the next scene, we see Vera at her therapist’s (Dr. Carlos’s) office, unwilling to talk about Nelson. Recently, Olga moved to a new house with Vera. When Olga and Vera enter the home, Olga notices the flickering lights. While Vera bathes, Olga informs her ex-husband Victor about Vera’s progress. However, the constant issue is Mariana (Victor’s girlfriend), whom Vera does not like. After putting Vera to bed, Olga notices a door leading to the attic, so Olga climbs up to the attic. In the attic, Olga finds a chest she assumes belongs to the previous owner. When Olga opens the chest, she finds some notebooks and stationery.
Why was Vera in the hospital?
Hearing something, Olga assumes Vera is out of bed, so Olga starts to descend the stairs when she has a weird vision. The next day, Victor arrives to take Vera with him. But Vera is annoyed as Mariana will be hanging out with them. As soon as Vera and Victor leave, Olga hears a loud ringing. At the same time, Olga has a vision of changing the furnishings and layout of the room. After the recurring visions, Olga heads to the attic and reads one of the diaries. In the diary are details about how much pain humans can tolerate. The details of pain and torture in such a detailed manner are disturbing to Olga, so she gets rid of the chest.
After disposing of the chest, Olga gets up to the attic to clean it and finds the disposed chest back in the attic. Afraid, Olga rushes out of the house when Olga receives a call saying Vera is in the hospital. At the hospital, Olga learns that Mariana takes care of Vera, and despite Mariana warning Vera not to play with knives, Vera uses a knife and cuts herself. At this point, Olga feels the cut is not an accident but a deliberate thing Vera has done. Since something creepy happens at the house, Olga does not want to take Vera home. So Olga lies to Victor about a gas leak and asks Victor to take Vera with him. Furthermore, Victor lets Olga stay at his house as well.
Who killed Nelson?
The next day, Olga leaves Vera with Victor even though Vera does not want to stay there because of Mariana. At home, Olga calls Carlos to help understand the paranormal experiences. At first, Carlos does not believe Olga, but once Carlos sees that the chest is back in the attic after he has moved it, Carlos is perplexed. Carlos and Olga begin reading the entries in the diaries. The diaries had information about the author of the diary committing murders. However, when Olga looks up information on the internet, the victims’ names don’t appear. So Carlos suggests meeting his friend, a graphologist, who can give an idea about the diary’s author.
As Carlos and Olga talk, Victor arrives with Vera. Inside the house, Vera is straightforward and asks if Carlos is Olga’s boyfriend. However, Carlos and Olga deny any such thing. Carlos tries to ask about Vera’s injury, but Vera says it’s an accident and runs to her room. The next day, Olga calls Carlos as Olga finds a drawing in Vera’s room. In a flashback, we see that when Nelson was hurt, a man wanted to kill the dog to end its suffering. However, Victor held on to Nelson and gave the dog to Vera. When Victor and Olga are not looking, Vera kills Nelson to end his suffering. After a therapy session, Carlos tells Olga that it was wrong on their part to put responsibility on Vera at such a young age. This is causing behavioral patterns where nobody is questioning anything Vera does.
Why does Olga confine Vera to the house?
After the chat, Carlos and Olga meet the graphologist, who says the author is a woman. After going through the handwriting, the graphologist says that the first time the author killed someone, it was an accident. Moreover, during this time, someone also tried to kill the author. After that, the author started to get a liking for murdering people. The confusing part for Carlos and Olga is that the graphologists mention that the writing is not from the past but is real-time. Hearing this, Olga is terrified that there is a killer in the house. Realizing the psychological turmoil Olga is going through, Carlos gives her some pills. After showering, Olga sees a vision and an apparition of a woman entering her bedroom. When Olga panics, she bumps her head into a wall and bleeds. Â
To get more answers, Olga takes Carlos to meet one of the victims, Martin Munoz Araujo, who is supposedly alive. When they arrive at the location, they see that Martin is still a young boy. This makes things a lot more complicated as Olga realizes the killer is also a child. The graphologist also mentions that the killer has a motor disability, which makes them write in a particular way.
As Olga watches Vera write, Olga gets worried seeing the way Vera is writing. Terror strikes Olga when she sees Victor bringing a chest as a present for Vera. This is the same chest Olga found in the attic. By now, Olga is convinced Vera is the killer and does everything to prevent Vera from becoming a killer. During a party, Olga notices Vera looking unhappily at Mariana. So Olga is sure Vera will kill Mariana, which will look like an accident. After that day, Olga keeps Vera at home and does not even send her to school or therapy.
The Diary (El Diario, 2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Vera dead?
One day, Olga goes to the attic and starts talking to the apparition Vera, promising to help and not turn into a killer. However, the apparition Vera rushes to the young Vera’s room and shuts the door. In a state of panic, Olga pushes the door, hurting the young Vera. Immediately, Olga apologizes to Vera. Later that day, Victor arrives with Carlos at Olga’s house, worried about Vera. When Victor questions Olga about the cut on Vera’s mouth, Olga does not answer. So Victor returns with a police officer, making Olga lose Vera’s custody.
At Victor’s house, Vera is annoyed and unhappy with Mariana’s presence. During this time, Olga convinces Carlos that it was a mistake to send Vera with Victor as Vera will try to kill Mariana. That night, there is an earthquake, and with a lot of difficulty, Victor takes Vera to safety. Now Olga realizes that the shaking described in the diary is happening and that Vera will soon kill someone.
That night, Vera waits in Victor’s room until Victor and Mariana are fast asleep. Once they are asleep, Vera takes scissors and is about to cut Mariana’s hair when she wakes up. Seeing this odd behavior, Victor starts to get scared and questions Vera. At the same time, Carlos and Olga are on their way to Victor’s house. On the stairway, Victor and Vera are arguing.
When Victor does not allow Vera to go to Olga’s house, Vera pushes Victor. As soon as that happens, Olga enters the house to find a dead Victor on the stairway. The cops don’t allow Vera to go with Olga. So Olga finds a way to distract the cops and take Vera. As they drive, Olga questions Vera if she does not care that her father is dead. When Vera does not respond, Olga speeds up the car and swerves. In the next scene, we see Olga waking up in the hospital and a young Vera asks Olga if she tried to kill her.
The film ends on a cliffhanger as Vera’s question to her mother leaves us with many possibilities. Given that Vera has already killed an animal and her father, taking a human life no longer seems frightening to her. She will likely turn her violent tendencies toward Olga. Compounding the situation is the fact that the only person Vera loved and trusted—Olga—attempted to kill her, stirring deep feelings of disgust, anger, and betrayal. While Olga might try to explain her actions, Vera is still a child, incapable of grasping the complexities of the paranormal, and is unlikely to understand.
It appears that Vera’s transformation into a murderer hinges on what Olga says to her in the hospital. This final scene is pivotal, as it holds the potential to alter Vera’s fate. Despite Olga’s awareness of the impending danger and her attempts to prevent Vera from committing further violence, the events described in the diary continue to unfold. The narrative takes on a philosophical tone, suggesting that no one can escape their fate. However, the film leaves many paranormal elements unresolved. The sudden appearance of the chest in the attic and the crossover of timelines that enable Olga to see Vera remain unexplained. A farfetched conclusion to this story could be that Olga has a mental illness, and this is her story/imagination.
