The film is based on the play La Locura de Amor written in 1885 by Manuel Tamayo y Baus around the figure of Queen Joanna of Castile; who attracted authors, composers, and artists of the romanticist movement, due to her characteristics of unrequited love, obsessive jealousy, and undying fidelity.
In 2001 Vicente Aranda made a remake titled Juana la Loca