A Lei do Amor (English title: Wounded Past; literal meaning: The Law of Love) is a Brazilian telenovela produced and broadcast by TV Globo. It premiered on 3 October 2016, replacing Velho Chico, and ended on 31 March 2017, being replaced by A Força do Querer.
Created by Maria Adelaide Amaral and Vincent Villari, the telenovela is directed by Natalia Grimberg and Denise Saraceni.
It features performances by Cláudia Abreu, Reynaldo Gianecchini, Vera Holtz, Grazi Massafera, Tarcísio Meira, José Mayer, Ricardo Tozzi, Thiago Lacerda, Claudia Raia, Isabella Santoni, Humberto Carrão, Alice Wegmann and Heloísa Périssé in the main roles.
The plot features the story of Heloísa and Pedro, who, after years of separation, meet once again and realize the feelings they had for each other, and the efforts of Tião and Magnólia to separate them. It also features politics, power, seduction, comedy, envy, and family drama in the fictitious town of São Dimas, where the characters' lives intertwine to create cohesion and conflicts.
Contents
Plot
The story begins in 1995 in a fictitious city of São Dimas, a metropolitan region of São Paulo, which is a typical picture of society and politics. A medium-sized town that has its main source of income from a weaving factory headed by businessman Fausto (Tarcísio Meira) and his wife Magnólia (Vera Holtz), known to many simply as Mág, whom the city's population has real veneration.
What most people don't know is that Mág, behind the veneer of false tenderness which all tend to view, hides her true nature; she is arrogant, authoritarian, always thirsty for power, and without any scruples. By using various tricks to get what she wants, no matter who gets hurt, and trying to use these as justification that everything she does is to keep his family together. Fausto married Mág shortly after her first wife's death, who was Pedro's (Chay Suede/Reynaldo Gianecchini) mother. They have two other children, Hércules and Vitória.
Pedro meets Heloísa, a young woman who lives a quiet life with her parents; her mother, Cândida, who has leukemia, and the unemployed and alcoholic father, Jorge. In an act of desperation, her father tries to rob the textile company owned by Fausto but ends up being indicted and arrested; in prison, there is a rebellion, and the latter dies. Later, his mother also passed on from her disease for lack of proper treatment.
With Helô and Pedro's relationship, which started prior to the unfortunate events, Mág and Fausto cultivate a plan to separate the two. They hire Gabriela, a new secretary of Mág, to seduce and lure Pedro to bed, and they also contract Helô to a modeling agency run by Mág's trusted friend and confidante, Gigi. In cahoots with Mág, Gigi sends Helô away from São Dimas for modeling, leaving Pedro vulnerable to Suzana. At the same time, they cut communication between the two, and Pedro felt that Helô had moved on without him. On the night of Helô's surprise return, Pedro got drunk and fell asleep. Mág demands that Suzana seduce Pedro. Helô finds the naked Suzana with Pedro and believes that Pedro betrayed her (even though nothing really happened between the two and Pedro never knew about it till years later). During the anger episode, Helô leaves São Dimas indefinitely to be a professional model, where she meets Tião, a man whom she marries, and Pedro lives in France due to the pain he felt by Helô's absence.
Years later, Helô has seemingly moved on with her powerful Tião (José Mayer) who has apparently become distant over the years, with their two children: Letícia, who suffers the same ailment the grandmother had, and Edu, who has a difficult relationship with his father. Pedro returns to São Dimas, and their romance with Helô is rekindled, once more putting each other to the test as the forces that are set to separate them are reinforced.
Cast
Cláudia Abreu as Heloísa "Helô" Martins Bezerra
Isabelle Drummond as Young Helô
Reynaldo Gianecchini as Pedro Guedes Leitão
Chay Suede as Young Pedro
Vera Holtz as Magnólia Costa Leitão
Ana Carolina Godoy as Young Magnólia
José Mayer as Sebastião "Tião" Bezerra
Thiago Martins as Young Sebastião
Isabella Santoni as Letícia Martins Bezerra
Humberto Carrão as Tiago Leitão
Sophia Barclay as Sara Garcia de Oliveira
Alice Wegmann as Isabela Dias
Tarcísio Meira as Fausto Leitão
Thiago Lacerda as Ciro Noronha
Maurício Destri as Young Ciro
Camila Morgado as Vitória Costa Leitão Noronha
Sophia Abrahão as Young Vitória
Grazi Massafera as Luciane Leitão
Danilo Grangheia as Hércules Costa Leitão
João Vítor Silva as Young Hércules
Ricardo Tozzi as Augusto Tavares
Guest stars
Regina Duarte as Suzana Rivera
Gabriela Duarte as Young Suzana
Denise Fraga as Cândida Martins
Daniel Ribeiro as Jorge Martins
Bianca Salgueiro as Carmen da Silva Leitão
Soundtrack
Volume 1
Cover: Cláudia Abreu, Reynaldo Gianecchini, Chay Suede and Isabelle Drummond
Volume 2
Cover: Alice Wegmann and Humberto Carrão
Ratings
The first episode of A Lei do Amor registered a viewership rating of 30 points in Greater São Paulo, the lowest viewership for the 8/9 pm telenovela premiere.