Women in Love
Daily life obtains its most poetic chronicle in the perception of someone who already has written successful telenovelas such as “Family Ties” and “Anything For Love”, and now points its creativity towards women and their passions. “Women in Love”, written by Manoel Carlos in his fifth partnership with the director Ricardo Waddington, is an urban and contemporaneous telenovela that brings together the author’s desire in portraying different feminine profiles and their passions emphasizing the turns of life, the torments of destiny and the doubts hidden inside each feminine universe.

The main theme is the eternal search of ideal love in all its aspects since women and love are two of the several strengths driving the world. It stands out for exploring all cores when telling the story of women in love of the telenovela, enhancing the focus in the main love triangle composed by Helena (Christiane Torloni), her husband Téo (Tony Ramos) and her formal boyfriend, the charming César (José Mayer).

The central story portrays Helena’s (Christiane Torloni) life, a beautiful and vivid woman who has been married for many years with the musician Téo (Tony Ramos), starts to ask herself if she’s happy in her marriage. She lives a tidy life, enjoys a good and stable relationship, without large quarrels, but also without much passion. They have an adopted child called Lucas (Victor Hugo). Helena is a history teacher and headmistress of the Ribeiro Alves School owned by her husband and sister-in-law Lorena (Suzana Vieira). Téo plays saxophone in a jazz band and his vocalist and former spouse Pérola (Elisa Lucinda), with whom he had a daughter in the past, Luciana (Camila Pitanga), a medicine student. They are all related like in a big family.

The starting point for Helena’s uncertainties is the return of César (José Mayer) to her life. When she met Téo, Helena left her boyfriend César to get married with the musician. Since then she never met him again. In the first chapter she will get the news that César is living in Rio de Janeiro and became a widower. She also discovers that he is a neurosurgeon at Dr. Ângelo Moretti’s Clinic where her stepdaughter Luciana (Camila Pitanga) works, and also that his daughter Marcinha (Pitty Webo) is a student in the school where she works. The news disturbs Helena making her start to question even more her relationship with Téo.

César is a famous doctor feared by all around him because he’s a cold, demanding and bad-tempered man. When his wife Isabel (Cristina Bonna) turns ill and dies on the first chapter, the relationship with his rebel son Rodrigo (Leonardo Miggiorin) turns much worse. In time Rodrigo gets along again with his father who will offer him unconditional support to all his life projects such as for example the acting group to be performed at the Ribeiro Alves School.

Helena (Christiane Torloni) on her turn, shares her anxieties with Hilda (Maria Padilha) and Heloísa (Giulia Gam), her two sisters, good friends and confidants. The union between them is very strong and fundamental for Helena’s future decisions. Hilda and Heloísa are also married, but have very different relationships. Hilda owns a delicatessen shop where she sells self-made products with the help of her daughter Elisa (Gisele Policarpo) and is married with the successful lawyer Leandro (Carlos Eduardo Lago) with whom she has a stable relationship. On the contrary of Heloísa, Hilda is a secure woman who trusts her husband living a perfect life. Heloísa works with art objects and is married with the handsome architect Sérgio (Marcello Anthony) of whom she’s sickly jealous. Sergio is a man in peace with life and loves sports. He loves his wife and wishes to have a child with her, however he’s unable to persuade her that this would be wonderful for the improvement of their marriage. Heloísa hates the idea of sharing her man with another person, even if it’s the result of their love.

Besides her sisters, another good friend of Helena is her sister-in-law Lorena (Suzana Viera), Téo’s (Tony Ramos) sister. Lorena is a determined woman who wishes to live a great love again. Owner of the Ribeiro Alves School, she left the responsibility of the management to Helena (Christiane Torloni), however she goes to school once in a while. She was married to Rafael (Claudio Marzo), to whom she’s still a good friend and confidant. She had two nice children with him, Vida (Julia Almeida) and Diogo (Rodrigo Santoro). Diogo is the mother’s love, he works in the travel agency of the hotel where his father is the general manager and has a motorbike store with his partner and friend Cláudio (Erik Marmo).

Diogo and his cousin Luciana (Camila Pitanga) had a torrid affair that ended against their will because the family was not giving support to their relationship, the reason for that is his adventurer’s and womanizing spirit. On the first chapter, Diogo gets married with Marina (Paloma Duarte) because she’s pregnant of him. Even if he cares about her, he’s unable to forget his beautiful cousin Luciana. Marina is daughter of Silvia (Natália do Valle) and Afrânio (Paulo Figueiredo), owner of the travel agency where Diogo works. Foreseeing the suffering of her daughter, Silvia is against the marriage and she doesn’t like her future son-in-law.

The cast is also composed by the actors Carolina Dieckmann and Rafael Calomeni who interpret Edwiges and Expedito, Ana’s (Regina Braga) and Argemiro's (Humberto Magnani) children. They are the family living in the school and following Lorena (Suzana Vieira) for years. Mother and daughter work in the school while the father takes care of the Ribeiro Alves’ farm in Vassouras. Expedito lives in Juiz de Fora with an aunt, but shows up again years later in the farm to help his father to prepare Diogo’s (Rodrigo Santoro) wedding. Lorena will get surprised with the boys’ beauty and will feel very attracted to him. Even if there is a large difference of age between them, they will live their love and face together prejudice of their families.

The beautiful and humble Edwiges will live a big love with the captivating Cláudio (Erik Marmo) and even if they belong to different worlds they will have a large affinity. To concrete their love, they will fight against prejudice of Cláudio’s mother and the consequences of the unexpected pregnancy of Gracinha (Carol Castro), a sensual friend from his childhood.

Helena Ranaldi interprets the gym teacher Raquel who leaves São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro hoping to change her suffered life nearby her violent husband Marcos (Dan Stulbach). The telenovela will present that she has escaped from her husband because of his violence during their whole marriage, the reason for that is that he’s extremely jealous.

Raquel looks for a job at the Ribeiro Alves School where she meets the adolescent Fred (Pedro Furtado), a swimming fan. This approach will cause a great conflict with her husband who comes back to her life and makes her suffer even more.
Lavínia Vlasak is Estela, a rich cousin of Helena (Christiane Torloni) who loves parties and enjoys life. At Diogo’s (Rodrigo Santoro) and Marina’s (Paloma Duarte) wedding she meets again her forbidden childhood passion, the father Pedro, interpreted by the Italian actor Nicola Siri. But this obsession towards a church member will create her lots of trouble; she’ll do anything to conquer her love.

In his telenovelas, the author Manoel Carlos always tries to develop social themes in order to generate large repercussion. In “Women in Love”, the subject chosen is the lack of respect to older people enhancing problems suffered by senior citizens. This will be exploited by means of two characters, Flora (Carmen Silva) and Leopoldo (Louzadinha), Carlão’s parents, Helena’s neighbor. Their rebel granddaughter Dóris (Regiane Alves) is the villain of the story and she keeps mistreating their grand parents because she thinks they only create problems.

As integral part of social themes, the telenovela also portrays the effects of alcoholism by means of the battle of the teacher Santana lived by the actress Vera Holtz. She’s the exemplary teacher of the Ribeiro Alves School who, even if loved by all her students and friends, is living a lonely life. After suffering the consequences of addiction, she’ll visit the “Anonymous Alcoholics” and will be submitted to an anti-intoxication treatment.

At the Ribeiro Alves School, besides teachers, there are also the student’s nucleus, emphasized by two young students played by Aline Moraes (Clara) and Paula Picarelli (Rafaela). They live a controversial relationship, which will have to overcome difficult situations during the telenovela.

The following actors also participate in ”Women in Love”: Walderez de Barros (Alzira), Marly Bueno (Marta), Serafim Gonzales (Onofre), Guilhermina Guinle (Rosinha), Vanessa Gerbelli (Fernanda), Paulo Coronato (Caetano), the little actress Bruna Marquezine (Salete) and a large cast.

“Women in Love” counts on a large cast formed by more than 100 actors, among them large veterans of Brazilian television, youngsters and revelations. Like in the whole intrigue of the partners Manoel Carlos and Ricardo Waddington are presented more than 30 talents who are unknown to the grand public and are debuting on TV. “My way of narration requires that I work with a large cast because I deal with daily subjects. Then, if my character lives in an apartment building I need neighbors, a concierge, maids, a cook, drivers, etc. Besides, I like to launch new names, open doors to talents waiting for an opportunity”, explains Manoel Carlos. The director Ricardo Waddington adds: “it’s always a risk to put a novice in important parts, but only by daring we’ll discover and revel big talents of the Brazilian TV”.

The main female character will represent women in their forty’s or more, women who start to ask themselves if they are happy and if there is some time left to look for happiness in a new relationship or in a new conquest that could be either personal or professional. “Helena represents these women who have lived at least one big love, have had children and know almost everything about life. They are mothers living their children’s problems and help their parents. Anyway, they are women having many stories to tell”, explains Manoel Carlos.

The choice of Christiane Torloni for Helena’s part was from the author himself who considers her the ideal interpreter to portray the experience and strength of the character. “At 40 years women are splendorous and the actress represents this phase of the feminine life very well. Christiane is marvelous, she’s a struggling person who passed some difficult moments and is always seeming to be reborn”, flatters the author.

“Women in Love” follows the steps of large Globo successes, emphasizing beautiful love stories and a seductive love triangle. By means of simple intrigues and with a cast of stars, it narrates the several forms of love of different female characters that can be lived by any person in the world.