From left to right: Edu (Reynaldo Gianecchini), Camila (Carolina Dieckmann) and Helena (Vera Fischer)
Laços de Família (Family Ties) is a Brazilian telenovela produced and aired by Rede Globo, from June 5, 2000 to February 3, 2001. With a total of 209 chapters (150 in the international version displayed in countries such as Portugal), it was written by Manoel Carlos. It starred Vera Fischer and Carolina Dieckmann and actors Reynaldo Gianecchini, José Mayer, Tony Ramos, as the respective protagonists of the plot, and actress Deborah Secco as the main antagonist of the story.
Helena is a beautiful, successful 45-year-old woman who runs a beauty clinic. Edu is a handsome young guy of 25 years. The two meet in a car accident, and after the initial fights, the two fall madly in love with each other. Their dating is criticized by family and friends of both, especially Edu's aunt (who ironically is married to a man much younger than her). The situation worsens when Camila, Helena's beautiful daughter, also falls in love with Edu.
Laços de Família provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer:
- Edu is that for Helena in the first few episodes, before she finally gives in and admits she's in love with him too.
- Iris to Pedro. She is madly in love with him, he sees her only as an annoying daughter.
- Age-Gap Romance: Helena is twenty years older than Edu.
- Awful Wedded Life: It's pretty obvious from the first episode that Fred and Clara's marriage is already approaching rock bottom, because of her possessive and unpleasant personality.
- Betty and Veronica: Edu is Archie. Helena, a woman twenty years older, sensitive, kind and helpful is Betty. Camila, Helena's daughter, younger, emotional and impulsive is Veronica.
- Big Bad: Iris is the closest the novel has to it, and she's more like an Anti-Villain.
- Dirty Old Woman: Subverted. Alma thinks that Helena is because she is dating her nephew Edu, who is much younger than her. In fact, it's Edu who seduced Helena in the first place.
- Dramatic Irony: Luiza is jealous to see Edu talking to Miguel's beautiful young daughter, but she doesn't suspect him and Helena for finding her too old. Guess which one Edu is in love with?
- Green-Eyed Monster:
- Luiza, Edu's first girlfriend, who is dying of jealousy while watching Edu talking to the daughter of Miguel in a party... without realizing that the real threat to their relationship is Helena.
- Iris loves Pedro and will torment any woman who approaches him.
- Same with Clara, who has a possessive jealousy of her husband Fred.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Helena is blond and also an extraordinarily kind human being who always goes out of her way to solve the problems of the people around her. She decides to break up with Edu when she realizes that Camila is in love with him, and later she even jeopardizes her relationship with Miguel to get pregnant with another man, and thus save her daughter's life. It Makes Sense in Context.
- Has a Type: Eduardo falls in love with Helena and later her daughter Camila. Both are blonde.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Capitu is an escort girl... and also very affectionate and loyal to her parents, her son and her friends.
- Hypocrite: Alma finds it absurd that Edu has a girlfriend 20 years older than him. Alma's husband is 20 years younger than her.
- Jerkass:
- Alma, finds it absurd that Edu has a girlfriend 20 years older than him. Alma's husband is 20 years younger than her.She does everything to separate the couple.
- Iris is spoiled and has an obsessive crush on Pedro, almost killing his girlfriend at the beginning of the telenovela. She also bullies Camila.
- Clara is elitist and jealous, even humiliating Capitu in front of everyone, including her family.
- Large Ham: Lavínia Vlasak, when her character Luiza gets drunk and jealous for Edu.
- Love Triangle:
- Helena and Edu fall in love with each other, but Camila falls in love with Edu, and Miguel and Pedro fall in love with Helena.
- A curious case in which one of the people involved never finds out that she was in a love triangle: Luiza is jealous of seeing Edu with a friend, but never imagines that he was actually in love with Helena. The couple break up without her finding out the truth.
- Fred is married to Clara, and Capitu falls in love with Fred.
- May–December Romance:
- Helena is 20 years older than Edu.
- Pedro is 30 years olden than Iris.
- Ms. Fanservice: Helena, who is in a bikini for the first full episode, and has several scenes with sexy dresses or semi-nude in the rest of the soap opera. Her actress, Vera Fischer, who was 50 at the time, was gorgeous (and still is).
- Nice Guy:
- Downplayed with Edu. He is kind and polite to friends, family and even people he has just met, as you might imagine from a doctor. However, the way he insists on seducing Helena at the beginning of the telenovela may seem creepy to modern audiences. And there's the whole fact of his love triangle with two women who were mother and daughter...
- Miguel is a complete gentleman with everyone around him, as you might expect from a character played by Tony Ramos.
- Fred is also a nice man. After discovering that Helena is dating Edu, he treats Edu with kindness.
- Shout-Out:
- Miguel's bookstore is named after Machado de Assis's masterpiece Dom Casmurro.
- Capitu is named after the most prominent female character from the same book.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: An old woman and a young man fall in love and date, although family and friends are against it. Will the telenovela end with the two together and happily ever after? No, Edu meets this woman's daughter, who is her own age, and falls in love and marries her, while the woman stays with someone her own age.
- What Does She See in Him?: A male example where everyone asks why Edu is dating a woman 20 years older (although Helena is still a beautiful woman).
