La mujer de Judas

La Mujer de Judas
Created by RCTV
Starring Chantal Baudaux
Juan Carlos García
Astrid Carolina Herrera
Opening theme "Me huele a soledad" by MDO
Ending theme "Volver a Respirar" by Jessica
Country of origin Venezuela
Original language(s) Spanish
No. of episodes 126[1]
Production
Running time 43 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Radio Caracas Televisión
Picture format 480i SDTV
Original run May 16, 2002 – December 7, 2002
Chronology
Preceded by La niña de mis ojos
Followed by Trapos íntimos

La Mujer de Judas or The Wife of Judas is a telenovela produced by RCTV in Venezuela in 2002. Astrid Carolina Herrera (Altagracia), Chantal Baudaux (Gloria), Juan Carlos García (Salomon) are playing the main characters and it was directed and created by Martin Hahn. It consists of 126 episodes.

Story

A dark secret which was securely kept hidden after all these years, connects the six friends Altagracia, Juaca, Ricarda, Marina, Chichita and Laura. During the day of the wedding of Altagracia to a man she will marry for money named Julian, a man tries to rape Laura in the basement of the wine distilleries. Her friends accidentally kills him in the impulse of anger. The girls realize too late what they had done. They are shocked to see Padre Sebastian witness their crime. He asks them to report what happened to the police, but they reject the idea. Sebastian departs. Then the friends agreed to hide the corpse inside the wall, each of them leaving the basement in search for the priest, fearing, that he will tell the police. But when Altagracia found him, he was already dead inside the confession box of the church and with that she was incarcerated for that crime.

Altagracia spent 20 years in prison in order to hide the crime of her mother. The mother of Altagracia, Berenice, prior to the wedding of daughter, learned that Padre Sebastian and Altagracia love each other, and that they intend to get married because Altagracia is already pregnant. Berenice opposes these plans, she quarrels with the priest, and then, when his back is turned, she hit him on the head using a rock image of San Judas Tadeo (hence, La Mujer De Judas). Afterwards she dragged the body inside the confession box, attaching wires to his arms, legs and head so that the body would not fall out. When Altagracia found him and tried to release him but it is too late: Sebastian is dead. The people enter at this moment into church.

There is an additional mystery in this series, Gloria is the daughter of Altagracia and Padre Sebastian. Only Altagracia and Juaca know about this secret. When Altagracia was pregnant, she entrusted Gloria to Juaca. Altagracia and Juaca vowed never to tell anyone the truth and Juaca took care of Gloria as her own daughter.

Gloria comes back to the town of Carora from the city exactly on the day Altagracia will be set free from prison after 20 years. She chooses the legend of The Wife of Judas as the subject of her groups' final documentary as a final university requirement. As they try to solve this 20 year old mystery they uncover more and more secrets but every time Gloria sees a specter of the late priest, a horrible murder happens. They are said to have been killed by a "ghost" garbed in a wedding dress, whose face is hidden behind a mask looking like a skull which they call as La Mujer de Judas. The bodies of the victims where often seen depicting a scene of a martydom of a saint. It will play in the minds of our heroes and the police. Who is the Wife of Judas? What is her motive? Is it money, revenge or something more? But no one will be able to solve the mystery.

They will be able to catch one of the "Wives of Judas" in the basement, though, shortly after she tried to kill Pancho, Salomon was able to take the mask away. There was a lot of commotion among the people present, when they finally reveal that the wife of Judas is... Ismael, the son of Chichita, the mentally unstable son who is the sole witness to the crime 20 years ago. Ismael only laughs at all this, calling them stupid, who do not see further behind their noses. He acknowledges that he is only the student of the wife of Judas. He helped in everything, and she taught him well. People told him to confess who the real culprit is, but he keeps silent, and then laughs at them again, asserting that the killer is here, among them, but no one will be able to know the name. Ismael was put in prison, but the wife of Judas is clever. She helps Ismael out, and that incident puts Gloria and wife of Judas face-to face, telling Gloria that she is the next wife of Judas. A crowd is beginning to surround them, so Ismael seizes her in hostage. It ended when Ismael died of bullet wounds and Gloria was saved. Once again, they fail to discover the identity of the wife of Judas.

After a long time, Gloria and Salomon are finally getting married, along with Altagracia and Marcos. The priest marries Gloria and Salomon, then approaches the turn of Altagracia and Marcos. The priest asks the couple if they are concordat to marry, Marcos speaks - yes, but Altagracia replied in the negative. After this, loud explosions were heard inside the church. All run out of the church. Then Salomon and Gloria turn back, and Marcos searches for Altagracia. At that precise moment Juaca appeared. They saw before them a masked female ghost, who stands in the altar. Gloria shouts, persistently that the killer must uuncover herself. Salomon is running toward the wife of Judas, but then he stops. Gloria again sees the ghost of priest. He made a gesture that the wife of Judas wants to be caught. All await the revelation with much anxiety. The wife of Judas raises the veil and removes the mask, under which we all see...the face of Altagracia del Toro. Gloria cried out in disbelief. Marcos approaches his bride, but she stops him with a pistol. Then Ricarda, Chichita, Laura appear in the church...they attacked Altagracia, charging her with the death of close family and friends. But Altagracia orders them to be silent and her admission begins.

They all betrayed her, and no one in 20 years ever visited her in prison, no one helped her in her sacrifice about the crime they committed. She could not kill the priest because she loved him. But the people condemned her, especially Marcos, who gave her name - wife of Judas to boost his career as a reporter. Desiring to take vengeance upon Marcos, she played his affections and made him love her. And today, she and Marcos will leave the world together. The years, carried out in the prison, changed her. She thought over the plan of vengeance to each of them. Gloria reproaches her in the murder of innocent people. Altagracia looks at her daughter, her face softened. In an affectionate voice she attempts to explain to the girl, why she did it. She lowers the pistol, which was directed to all those people present, and was about to acknowledge that Gloria is her daughter. Juaca shouts, warning her against this. At this exact moment Marcos rushes to Altagracia, attempting to take away the pistol. Shots were heard, and one of the bullets hit Altagracia. Juaca quickly runs to her mortally injured friend. Marcos cries, he requests forgiveness and tells her not to leave him. But Altagracia dies, her last words about that of Gloria, she requests Juaca to care for the girl. Marcos holds Altagracia's hands. And only Gloria can see, that there, on the threshold of the church, is Padre Sebastian, his hands extended, as if calling on to Altagracia, whom he loves, and in her entire life, loves only him. Gloria tells the crowd that Altagracia is finally reunited with Padre Sebastian.

Some time passed...Life in the town of Carora was quiet. Chichita was in a mental institution, after losing her two sons. Marcos, condemned for the murder of Altagracia, was let out from prison on amnesty. Gloria bore a son, whom she named Sebastian, and Cordelia bore a girl.

Epilogue: Juaca, Laura, Ricarda and Chichita met one last time. In each of their hands they carry a bag containing the wedding dresses---soiled by blood, a glove and a mask...each of them carried out the role of wife of Judas. Altagracia used them to kill someone and extorted them with the crime that happened 20 years ago. From the start they knew who the real La Mujer De Judas is but were afraid to tell. Yes, Altagracia was the wife of Judas...all of them were.

Cast

Main cast

Other cast

Theme musical

Mexican Remake

TV Azteca 13 in Mexico produced their own version of La Mujer de Judas (2012). It stars Andrea Marti, Victor Gonzalez and Anette Michel.

International Releases

The soap opera was shown in some countries in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa through Romantica Television, its distributor.

References

  1. ↑ Formatos telenovelas
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