When it comes to viewer satisfaction of lesbian storylines, soap operas and telenovelas as a genre have unique good points and bad points. On the plus side, viewers have much more exposure to the couple. Clarina’s story requires hours to watch, whereas, for example, all WayHaught scenes from “Wynonna Earp” probably fit within a single hour. This means more looks, more touches, more everything for the viewers of a telenovela. Then again, the soap operatic need for drama also means an agonizingly, excruciatingly long buildup. Although Clara and Marina take forever to become an official couple, the slow burn is worth it for the happy ending that comes with it.
For some people, watching good fictional lesbian couples can be more addicting than sugar or heroin. My friends, I gave up hours of sleep just to get a little more time to watch Clarina. I may or may not have even pulled an all-nighter. And watched the whole storyline all the way through multiple times. So reader, beware: once you start watching, you might not be able to stop until you’ve seen it through. The following were what I found to be the high and low points of the pairing:
The Good:
- Clarina has a genuine happy ending that could not have been more positive. Throughout the show’s run, Clara and Marina always treat each other with respect and affection. There is always forward momentum in the relationship, even if that momentum is sometimes a crawl. Nor is there ever a shred of doubt that they love each other.
- Antonelli and Müller, to whom all credit for the chemistry in this pairing is owed, are able to create a tangible magnet effect between Clara and Marina: Marina is a magnet to which Clara is unstoppably drawn from the moment they meet, and watching Clara both move toward and fight against that attraction is positively spellbinding. Both are great in their roles, but Antonelli in particular has a way of reflecting a flurry of emotions subtly across her face. When Marina enters the room, Clara’s face lights up with such a pure innocence it’s like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. Marina may openly declare her love for Clara, but Clara has been gone since the moment she saw Marina, and it shows.
- Maria Eduarda de Carvalho, who plays Marina’s ex turned personal assistant Vanessa, is equally fantastic in her role. Vanessa’s storyline is also unique and novel: she has an obsessive, occasionally slightly unhinged love for her ex that manifests itself as jealousy and possessiveness mixed in with her business acumen and efficiency. Why does she stay around to watch Marina pine for Clara? Because she can’t let go, no matter how it hurts her. De Carvalho really shines in the role.
- Marina and Clara both grow as individuals through their relationship. Marina starts as a rich girl who grew up without having to learn responsibility and consequences, but to be with Clara, she has to really stretch her patience. Clara, meanwhile, starts as a humble housewife who learns self-respect and how to own a sense of personal agency that she didn’t think she had (it’s possible to see this transformation in how her hair and makeup is done, too, for the record. She goes from slightly dowdy to gorgeous, confident knockout).
- One of the most interesting parts of Clara’s storyline is how she sets and moves her boundaries. She draws lines in the sand for how she will interact with Marina, crosses them, and draws new ones. For example, she can hear Marina tell her she loves her, but she can’t say it back. She can dance with Marina, but they can’t kiss. Then the lines slowly start to move as Clara falls more and more deeply in love with Marina. The only line she never crosses is that while she is still married to Cadu, she won’t kiss Marina–even if she can tell her that she loves her.
- Both Antonelli and Müller are spectacularly gorgeous, and only get more and more beautiful as their storyline advances.
The Bad:
- There is an imbalance between the lead-up to Marina and Clara dating and the time they spend officially together. It takes almost 90 episodes for them to get together, and after that they have a tiny fraction of the screen time in the remaining episodes. As such, their storyline post getting together is truncated and hasty. It seems likely the show viewed Clara’s love triangle as her major storyline and once the triangle was resolved, didn’t really know what to do with Clarina.
- Brazil legalized gay marriage the year before the telenovela aired, in 2013, but homophobia persists there. There is a blatant and unapologetic double standard between what is shown between Clara and Cadu and Clara and Marina. In total, Clarina have only three kisses, and rather than an actual sex scene, they get a figurative, implied scene. As we wrote at the time the show aired, although Brazilian viewers supported Clarina, they didn’t want to see them having any physical intimacy. As a result, it’s reported that parent company Globo edited out or didn’t film scripted kisses and intimate scenes. As much as it sucks to not have more physical intimacy between Clara and Marina, at least three kisses are better than none, and to give it a positive spin, it leaves everything else to the viewer’s imagination (note: there are only about 10 fanfics written in English on Clarina. Get on that, Internet! Seriously, then someone send me the link).
Overall grade: A+. On screen, there are some great romances, and there are some small romances. While both have their place, great romances are the ones that will make you believe in fate and destiny and soulmates. They are the ones to which all others are compared, both on screen and in real life. The great romances are rare, and represent an almost coincidental combination of the right plot and the right actresses. Without both a good story and good chemistry, there is no great romance. Clarina is a great romance. One of the greatest, perhaps, because it teaches us to persist and to believe in the ultimate success of love. May we all find someone who looks at us with the same love and adoration with which Clara and Marina look at each other. Cheers to everyone involved in making Clarina a great romance.
