La Otra
| La otra | |
|---|---|
 Juan Soler and Yadhira Carrillo | |
| Genre | Telenovela |
| Format | Serial drama |
| Created by |
Liliana Abud Jaime García Estrada Orlando Merino |
| Directed by | Benjamín Cann |
| Starring |
Juan Soler Yadhira Carrillo Jacqueline Andere Sergio Sendel |
| Theme music composer |
Benny Ibarra Edith Márquez |
| Opening theme | "La otra" |
| Country of origin | Mexico |
| Original language(s) | Spanish |
| No. of episodes | 89 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Ernesto Alonso |
| Location(s) | Mexico |
| Running time | approx. 44 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Televisa |
| Distributor | Televisa |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | El Canal de las Estrellas |
| Original run | 20 May 2002 – 20 September 2002 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Salomé |
| Followed by | Así son ellas |
La Otra (The Other Woman) is a Mexican telenovela that was produced by Televisa and aired on El Canal de las Estrellas from 20 May through 20 September 2002. It aired on Univision in the United States from October 14, 2002 through February 28, 2003. It stars Yadhira Carrillo as both Carlota Guillen Sáenz and Cordelia Portugal, identical strangers whose lives collide upon becoming involved with Álvaro Ibáñez (Juan Soler).
"The Best Telenovela of the Year" (Premios TVyNovelas 2003)
Plot
On a dark, stormy night, Bernarda, Leopoldo Guillen's lover, takes her two small daughters, Eugenia and Carlota, to his funeral. Leopold's son, Roman, his wife, and the priest tell them that they are unwelcome at the funeral and Roman throws them out in the mud.
Years later, Carlota and Eugenia are attending a university where Carlota studies music and Eugenia studies accounting. Bernarda favors and expects the best out of Eugenia, who is failing school. However she disdains and expects the worst out of Carlota, whom Bernarda calls "inutil" (good-for-nothing). In reality, Carlota is the one who is successful, as she plays the piano beautifully and paints many masks, showing us that she has quite the artistic side.
Bernarda is a materialistic woman, determined to never allow her daughters to marry in order to avoid what is stated in the father's will: Upon marriage, they will take their part of the fortune. She oppresses the girls and holds them near prisoner in their own home. However, Carlota and Eugenia do not allow circumstances to stop them from being their own selves. Eugenia is secretly dating Roman and has already had relations with him. Roman has slept with her for vengeance only. He thinks that she is his half-sister. However, she is not Leopoldo's daughter. When Bernarda and Carlota discover that Eugenia is pregnant, Bernarda sends her away to a small town with their housekeeper Tomasa. In the small town Eugenia meets Cordelia, who is identical to Carlota. She also meets Santos, a man who falls in love with her, and they marry in order to give her child a name.
Meanwhile, Carlota forms a relationship with a young doctor named Álvaro. He soon asks for her hand in marriage. When Bernarda finds out, she adamantly opposes and unsuccessfully tries break them up via many means. Eventually, she concedes and gives Carlota her blessing. Of course, knowing Bernarda, there is always an ulterior motive.
Eugenia gives birth but because Bernarda tells Eugenia the entire truth about everything that has happened, she instigates her own daughter's early death. During her last moments, Eugenia orders Tomasa to hide the baby with Santos and lie to everyone and say the baby died. Eugenia curses her mother with misery and guilt and dies.
When Eugenia's body is delivered to Bernarda, Álvaro asks to see Carlota, but Bernarda demands that he leave and leave her to mourn her daughter's death. Ignorant of recent happenings and of the fact that Carlota has a sister, Álvaro believes Carlota died. Bernarda does not correct him and says that Carlota died in a freak accident. She denies him access to view the dead body by lying (The lie is that Carlota's body is unrecognizable from the serious degree of the accident). Álvaro leaves for his parents' hacienda in a rural town to get over his first (and only) love. Bernarda tells Carlota that he abandoned her and that he was just using her. With the death of her sister and this terrible news, Carlota tries to kill herself, but she only kills her unborn child.
During Alvaro's grieving process, Cordelia eventually seduces Alvaro into a loveless marriage, using her appearance and her charismatic manipulation skills to her advantage.
Ten years later, Carlota is nothing more than a mere shadow of her former self, further enslaved by Bernarda, and Alvaro and Cordelia are having marital troubles, causing misery for their daughter Natalia.
Eventually, Carlota will learn to break free and become her own person...but it will take walking into the lion's den to do so. She will go to Alvaro's house and assume the position of La Otra.
Cast
- Yadhira Carrillo — Carlota Guillén Sáenz / Cordelia Portugal de Ibáñez (protagonist|villain, drowned by Adrian)
- Juan Soler — Álvaro Ibáñez
- Jacqueline Andere — Bernarda Sáenz vda. de Guillén (villain, is left to be alone and miserable with her money-hungry lifestyle)
- Sergio Sendel — Adrián Ibáñez (villain, is killed by Bernarda via her "protected" safe)
- Manuel Ojeda — Juan Pedro Portugal (villain, burns to death by his daughter Apolonia's hand)
- Mercedes Molto — Eugenia Guillén Sáenz (dies while giving birth to her son Librado)
- Chantal Andere- Bernarda Sáenz vda. de Guillén (young) (villain) (only appears in few episodes)
- Alejandro Ávila — Román Guillén (villain, is shot to death by Bernarda)
- Eugenio Cobo — Padre Agustín
- Jorge Vargas — Delfino Arriaga
- Julio Bracho — Lázaro Arriaga
- Toño Mauri — Daniel Mendizábal
- Azela Robinson — Mireya Ocampo
- Maty Huitrón — Fabiana Morales (pushed off a roof by her son Adrian)
- Rosa María Bianchi — Lupita Ibáñez
- Josefina Echánove — Tomasa López
- Alonso Echanove — El Cuco
- Luis Couturier — Justo Ibáñez
- Sergio Sánchez — Saltiel Orozco
- Sergio Ramos — Don Joaquín Pardo
- Veronica Jaspeado — Apolonia Portugal (villain, ends up in prison waiting for her mother's aid)
- Ignacio Guadalupe — Santos Merida
- Roberto Atúnez — Padre Fermín
- Virginia Gutiérrez — Esperanza
- Fernando Robles — Fulgencio Ríos
- Gastón Tuset — Dr. Salvador Almanza
- Alfonso Iturralde — Narciso Bravo
- Zoila Quiñones — Simona Díaz
- María Prado — Martina Rubio
- Virginia Gimeno — Hilaria Rivero
- Isadora González — Paulina Mendizábal
- David Ramos — Padre Conrado
- Alberto Inzúa — Padre Javier
- Antonio de la Vega — Isaac Gómez (villain, aid of Adrian, runs off before getting killed or caught)
- Carlos González — Benigno Merida
- Rosángela Balbó — Socorrito
- Lucy Tovar — Celina Chávez
- Thelma Dorantes — Carmen
- Shirley — Julieta de Guillén
- Ester Guilmain — Esther
- Erika Blenher — Roberta
- Ofelia Guilmáin — Sabina Vda. de Ocampo (Mireya's mother, smothered by Bernarda)
- Carlos Speitzer — Librado Merida
- Natasha Dupeyrón — Natalia Ibáñez Portugal
- Cosme Alberto — Braulio Portugal Rivero
- Annie del Castillo — Karen Mendizábal
Critical reception
This telenovela was a moderate success in Mexico, airing at 8pm in the summer of 2002, right before the (usually) highest-rated hour of 9pm, during which Entre el Amor y el Odio was airing. However, it proved to be a sleeper telenovela, as it won the Premio for best novela of 2002, as well as numerous other Premios. It has also grown in popularity amongst telenovela fans of all kinds, thus making it a cult classic of sorts. It has aired four times in the United States, the first time being its initial airing on Univision in the afternoon, from October 14, 2002 to February 28, 2003. It has been repeated three times afterward. The first repeat was on Telefutura in the early morning, from September 26, 2005 to January 27, 2006. The second repeat was on Univision during the Grandes Historias hour late at night, from April 9, 2007 to August 9, 2007. The third repeat currently aired during the mid-afternoon later switched to mornings on Telefutura, having started on November 22, 2010 to March 30, 2011.