Amor perfeito

**"Amor perfeito"** is a Brazilian telenovela written by Duca Rachid and Júlio Fischer for Rede Globo. It's an original story based on the 1955 Spanish movie 'Marcelino, pan y vino' and it started airing on March 20, 2023. The main stars are Camila Queiroz and Diogo Almeida.

## Synopsis

In 1934, Marê is a modern young woman who returns to São Jacinto to take over the family hotel after graduating in administration, but who is forced by her prejudiced father Leonel to marry the bad character Gaspar when she reveals that she is dating Orlando, a black doctor. Gilda, his young and ambitious stepmother, also wants to run the business and teams up with Gaspar to kill Leonel, making the blame fall on her stepdaughter to keep the inheritance.

Pregnant, Marê has her baby taken from her in prison and spends 8 years in prison until she is released on parole in 1942, when she decides to return to São Jacinto to take revenge on Gilda, recover her inheritance and her son, with the help of her friend childhood Júlio, who is in love with her. Meanwhile, Marcelino was raised as an orphan in the city's monastery, where he sees Friar Leão and the loving Aparecida as a family reference, although he dreams of meeting his birth parents. None of them, however, imagine that Leonel is still alive and without memory.

Gilda, on the other hand, spent years exploring the city's natural reserves, counting as allies Mayor Anselmo, who has an affair with Verônica hidden from his wife Cândida, Chief Ciro, who always mistreated Lívia for not giving him a biological child and having to adopt a child which he rejects, and the promoter Sílvio, whose wife Wanda confronts the city's conservatism with her modern fashion items and is Gilda's main rival, never having bowed to her. There is still Érico, an honest lawyer who hides being gay; Father João, who in the past succumbed to temptation with Darlene and had a child with her; and Padre Severo, who killed a man in his youth, the three manipulated by Gilda in her plans.

## Trivia

* This is the first telenovela by author Duca Rachid without the partnership of Thelma Guedes, with whom she wrote highly successful works on the network, such as 'O profeta', (2006), 'Cama de gato' (2009), 'Cordel encantado' (2011), 'Joia rara' (2013) and 'Órfãos da terra' (2019).
* Bianca Bin, Nathalia Dill and Juliana Paiva were all approached to play the protagonist Marê – the first two especially because they had already played central roles in Duca’s previous works – but since they no longer had an exclusive contract with the broadcaster, the production sought an option from Globo.
* Isabelle Drummond, Vitória Strada, Julia Dalavia and Valentina Herszage were mentioned by the media for the role.
* Alanis Guillen was confirmed in the role, after the good reception as Juma Marruá from 'Pantanal', but the actress resigned shortly afterwards, claiming that she needed a vacation.
* Juliana Alves was also thought to form the first couple of black protagonists since 'Lado a lado' (2012), but ended up being relocated to another role.
* Juan Paiva was thought of for the protagonist Orlando, but he couldn't accept it because he was filming the film 'Nosso sonho'.
* Elzio Vieira was confirmed in the role of Orlando, but after the first tests the production noticed that the actor did not have enough chemistry on the scene with Camila and decided to replace him with Diogo Almeida, this being his return to television 14 years since 'Promessas de amor' (2009), after years dedicating himself to the theater.
* Daniel de Oliveira was invited to play the antagonist Gaspar, but he turned it down because he didn't want to do more long telenovelas and was replaced by Rafael Cardoso. Cardoso was confirmed in the role of the main villain Gaspar and even attended the workshops for the telenovela. However, in the first week of filming he asked to be released from the show and was replaced with actor Thiago Lacerda.
* Pedro Paulo Rangel was scheduled to play Friar Leão, but due to his death in December 2022, he was initially replaced by Tony Tornado. The direction ended up relocating Tornado for another role, and choosing Tonico Pereira as the definitive interpreter.
* Felipe Camargo would make a special appearance as Leonel, the protagonist's father, but was replaced by Paulo Gorgulho.
* Rafael Sieg was scheduled to play the lawyer Érico, but was replaced by Carmo Dalla Vecchia, marking his fifth partnership with author Duca Rachid in her telenovelas.
* Guito Show and Renata Gaspar were invited for the roles of Father João and Darlene, but he refused because he did not want to spend another year away from his children after 'Pantanal' and she was reassigned to the cast of 'Terra e paixão'. Their roles were given to Allan Souza Lima and Carol Castro, respectively.

## See also

* 'Rayito de luz', 2000 Televisa telenovela, starring Alejandro Speitzer.