Luz María

Luz Maria is a great TV serie. It plays in the end of the 1890 in Peru. Luz Maria tells the lovestory of a poor woman, Luz Maria (Angie Cepeda), witch a rich guy Gustavo (Christian Meier). Their love is a lot of times in danger, first, because of Gustavo's wife, and then because Mirtha, Gustavo's wife's nurse. This TV serie is, I think, the best what Peru has produced until yet. All the cast is well and the storyline is also good. Thanks this serie, lot of the cast has become famouse around the world, like Christian Meier and Angie Cepeda, the two main charackters.

Yes, it is true, Latinamericans like telenovelas. However, during the 1990s most of the Mexican productions (the biggest industry) weren't original nor even worth-watching. It is during this time that the Peruvian soap opera industry seemed to get much better, not only with the number of productions; also in their quality.

This is what happens with "Luz María". The plot, an adaptation of Corín Tellados' Lucecita, is strongly based in the Cinderella story. Yet, there are major aspects on the adaptation that make this soap one of the bests of the decade.

First, the story itself has been adapted to the late 19th Century in Lima. Not only the post Chile war is well represented, also the political environment is greatly accurate in the telenovela (the transition from the military governments to the democracy period called the aristocratic republic).

Second, the performers. Colombian Angie Cepeda does a great performance of the innocent young girl that leaves the impoverished home in the Andes in order to work as a maid in a high-class family house in Lima, meeting the man of the house (Peruvian pop singer Christian Maier), and falling in love with him. and here is where problems begin. Excellent performances by Sonia Oquendo, Teddy Guzmán, Mariela Alcalá and Rosalinda Serfaty.

Finally, the production itself is a major accomplishment. Filmed in the Historic Centre of Lima, declared world's heritage by UNESCO, and letting know to the audiences the colonial and early republican extravaganza, the major success of this soap opera helped in the recovering of the Historic Centre, severely damaged by the 1980s guerrilla and terrorism

Every hopeless romantic that wants to escape into the 19th century should watch Luz Maria. A little long but I still didn't want it to end. Excellent chemistry between the protagonists. Spanish Speaking.

I saw for the first time Luz Maria last week and I was so touched by the grandiose unrelenting love and affection of Gustavo to Lucecita which these modern days it is very hard to find. The scenes are clean,wholesome,uncorrupted unlike most Hollywood soaps and movies which are tainted with obscenity and immorality.The dialogue between the Franciscan priest Emilio and Gustavo is very enlightening pertaining to the sanctity of marriage.Kodus to the director and all of the production crew for making this beautiful telenovela.But most of all kodus to Christian Meier for a superb acting in his role Gustavo,a very handsome ,very romantic haciendero and it due to him that made the love story very touching.It must have been difficult for him being married to Marisol to act in passionate manner towards Angie who was single woman .I want to buy complete DVD with English subs but I don't know where.

O.K. This is a good try. But this 'novela' has not the quality of the storyline of, e.g., "La Noche", also a Peruvian production. First of all, the "good" things: yeah, the costumes. There is a lot of great effort there but it would have been nice to teach the actors how to use them! You cannot move or walk in a 20th-century manner using those clothes!! Then, the few exterior locations... but knowing Peru, I think that they could use its wonderful natural sites a lot better. Then, the "less good" things: the actors. Only Teddy Guzman is completely natural and attached to her character. I know that today Meier and Cepeda are "famous" but besides their many and long kissing scenes, I don't think they had much to give, at the time, as actors. They do not enlighten their characters and, worse of all, there is no chemistry between them at all. I saw no love, no passion and no tenderness in their eyes, they were just like a couple of shy friends. And Sonia Oquendo really overacts all the time! A thing that really shocked me was the misuse of the contemporary language. I do not think that people could talk in that way at the end of the 19th century. And it is not only the use of certain expressions but the way they are said. Unhappily, there were very strong class differences in society at the time and many scenes this 'novela' presents are simply impossible to imagine. As I said at the beginning, the script is not good enough. It is always the same ridiculous story about the orphan and miserable girl who gets to work in a rich house in order to seduce its patron. It's "Simplemente Maria" or "Maria Mercedes" a hundred-year ago. Not even the music adds a little bit of charm to this "great" South American production.