Scripted

A plot full of twists, marked by the strength of a woman who overcomes tragedies and separations but cannot achieve the love of her own daughter. This is the central theme of Sweet Diva, the Globo telenovela arriving at the international market at the 2020 NATPE edition, after reaching over 55 million Brazilians on its final episode in Brazil, broadcast on November 22nd, the viewing record for the story. The telenovela, especially featuring Fernanda Montenegro, Oscar nominee and International Emmy winner, also caused a true commotion on social media during its last episode: 48 words on the Twitter trending topics, and 19 of them were on the global Trending Topics.

Written by Walcyr Carrasco, who also signed other hits from Globo as ‘The Other Side of Paradise’, ‘Trail of Lies’ and ‘Hidden Truths’, with direction of Amora Mautner, from ‘Brazil Avenue’, ‘Precious Pearl’ and ‘Harassment’, ‘Sweet Diva’ has other classical elements of a feuilleton. “It is a telenovela about courage, hope and overcoming with lots of positive energy”, summarizes Carrasco.

The story is told on two different phases: the first one, set in 1998, happens in the fictitious town of Rio Vermelho, marked by the rivalry between two families: the Ramirez family and the Matheus family. This is when we get to know Maria da Paz (Juliana Paes, from ‘Edge of Desire’, ‘Total Dreamer’ and ‘India – A Love story'), a humble young woman from the Ramirez family who learns how to bake cakes from her grandmother Dulce (Fernanda Montenegro, Oscar nominee for the movie ‘Central Station’ and International Emmy winner for her work on the series ‘Sweet Mother’), who dedicates all her love and affection to her daughter. But when the young woman falls in love with Amadeu (Marcos Palmeira, from ‘The Party’), who is a member of the rival clan, the hatred between the families becomes stronger and it results in violence and separations. Maria da Paz escapes to São Paulo and, there, she finds out she is pregnant with Amadeu –.believing her loved one is dead. Now, with a daughter to raise, Maria works with drive and dedication, baking cakes to sell on the streets of the capital of São Paulo.

Ten years go by and Maria da Paz turns into a successful baking entrepreneur. Even though she overcame all of her difficulties and built an empire with her cakes, Maria da Paz cannot win over the love of her daughter, Josiane (Agatha Moreira, from ‘Pride and Passion’ and ‘Hidden Truths’), a young woman with a doubtful character who wants to steal everything her mother accomplished. In this story full of twists, Maria da Paz loses everything she earned. But, without losing her joy to live, she will fight to win everything back.

The telenovela was also turned into a case, with unique commercial actions and the digital influencer Vivi Guedes (Paola Oliveira, from ‘Edge of Desire’ and ‘Trail of Lies’). The character got a profile on social media, inaugurating a brand-new commercial model for the format. After the viewing success in Brazil – it was established as one of the telenovelas with the best performance in the last 5 years on this time slot – the story is already being aired in Portugal, on SIC.

Credit photo: Globo/Raquel Cunha