Customer Reviews

La Otra

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

this is a great novela!! Yadhira Carrillo as both Cordelia and Carlota she is great as both of them and juan soler is a good leading man. The storyline is good as well. Two women who look exactly alike and are in love with the same man and one of the ladies tries to take the place of the women is peer genius. I hope they release juan soler's other novela angela. He waseal good in that too. But enjoy!!!

Overall, I thought that this telenovela was well done, the plot was expertly executed, and Juan Soler and Yadhira Carrillo did a fantastic job in their respective roles.
Like a previous customer said, Yadhira Carrillo has that uncanny ability to cry overflowing tears at the snap of a finger. She played Carlota very realistically, conveying to the viewers the suffering and the depression the character felt. In portraying Cordelia she switched gears and played a conniving and superficial character, much the opposite of the sweet and docile Carlota. As always Jacqueline Andere played marvelously as a villain, cold-hearted mother and killer, as well as Sergio Sendel as another villain who uses his charms to lure innocent people for his own perverted use. Juan Soler did an outstanding job, especially with those scenes when the character of Alvaro was quite confused between Carlota and Cordelia. I believed that he was going to go crazy because he didn't know what was really happening, who died and who was still alive.
Now...here comes the spoilers...so an alert here for those that haven't watched it:
Unfortunately I didn't get to watch "La Otra" in its entirety on Univision, and this was the very first time I watched it. So, I knew it was going to be very much edited to have this telenovela on 3 DVDs. That being said, although I did follow the storyline, and knew what was happening, I felt that there were some subplots and characters that were missing. Although I must say that I googled "La Otra", and read some well-written summaries, and knew that there were some parts missing. But, nonetheless, here are some things that stood out for me:
1) I knew that in some way Roman Guillen (Carlota's half-brother) would be involved with Bernarda (Carlota's mean-spirited mother). This is very obvious if you look on the back cover of the DVD. I know Roman, as Raul, uses Bernarda to exact revenge for stealing his father's inheritance. But this subplot is totally taken out of this version. So, exactly I don't know what happens.
2) Who is Julieta? Was she another innocent woman that Roman used to exact revenge? And why does Carlota tell her that she's like a sister to her? I know that Bernarda hit her with the car, and caused Julieta to lose her baby, at least that's what Roman accuses Bernarda before she kills him at the side of the road. So Julieta's story doesn't even appear here, not until the end.
3) Although they talk about Eugenia's son Librado, they don't show him at all, I don't know if he really appeared on the telenovela; also, the fact that Santos married Eugenia to give her baby a name is totally taken out of the story. It's only mentioned, but we are never given a full explanation.
4) Also, we see in flashbacks that Cordelia caused Alvaro's mother, Lupita, to have a heart attack and die, but we never really meet her on the story. Just see her in two scenes.
**end of possible spoilers**
There are many other little questions that really don't matter to be put in here, but those are four big ones. Also, I titled this review "Mexican Gothic telenovela" because that is what I felt I was watching. Even if there weren't any ghosts, or it wasn't set in dark places or had any supernatural effect, it still conveyed that "Gothic" element. Let me explain: with the house in Queretaro, which is an old colonial city in central Mexico, it's an old house, evidently from colonial times; the inside is dark, because of it's wooden dark-panneled walls, old-fashioned furniture. It didn't seem like a house set in the 21st century. This is also the case in La Santisima, Alvaro's family hacienda: old-fashioned 19th century furniture (or so it seems), dark wood walls, and the dark bungalow, with its airy and flowy bedroom veils where it seemed sometimes a ghost may appear. Oh, and let's not forget the Hitchcock-like haunting theme music throughout, with it's dark and somber cello and spine-tingling violin. Chopin's romantic piano music also lends to this "Gothic" theme, very beautiful but very haunting, almost melancholy and--sometimes--outright depressing. I'm not sure if this was the case in its original version, but boy this was quite obvious in this version. I have a little "complaint" about this too. Most if not all telenovelas, even if it's a serious plot-driven one, usually has a slice of comic relief to break the seriousness of a story. Although I may totally wrong because this was edited out, I didn't see any comic relief at all. It was just haunting, dark and somber all throughout. A few funny characters or comic scenes would've helped! For example, if you watched "Amarte Es Mi Pecado" (another Yadhira Carrillo telenovela) it was also a serious-driven telenovela, but it had its comic relief through the likes of Silvia Pasquel playing a very funny villainess and Casilda a very funny character with its hideous teeth; let's not forget Casilda's aunt and her strange characteristic of wearing different wigs. That was very much a comic relief, and it gave us a break from the main plot. But I didn't see this in "La Otra", unless there were funny characters and scenes in its original version that may have been edited out completely from the DVD version. If this is the case, then shame to those who edited it, it may have made this DVD version a lot better if they included some comic relief. All in all, I thought this was a wonderful telenovela, very realistic, although I can't imagine having another person being a double of me in spite of not being twins. I think that was the only unrealistic thing about it, but very much a central theme to this novela. The settings were beautiful, the acting was very real, the villains were devilishly good, and that music...God, that music really made this telenovela that much atmospheric, it made me feel melancholic, and it just gave me the chills just listening to it. The use of Chopin's work is also very well done. The only thing I have against it is the editing of important subplots and characters and the lack of comic relief and characters. But, I still highly recommend this one, one of the many very well done Mexican telenovelas!

I buy and watch Mexican Telenovelas as a student of Spanish so I know them all. Though the story line is a bit chopped up in various places in "La Otra" from the editing process.... this is still a great novela with a great story and very interesting to watch with excellent acting. To top it off, this is one of the few novelas that has a soundtrack that actually doesn't suck. The music and sound track are very well done and not irritating like so many others. If you were going to have a collection of 5 telenovelas out of the hundreds that exist, this should be one of the five.

First of all I want to say that this is my favorite soap opera of all time. The other two that I love are Angela and Apuesta por un amor. This was a very clever story, full of surprises and discovery. I agree this was Juan Soler's best leading role. Yadhira Carrillo was amazing. She gave a extraordinary personal touch to her two characters, and could at the same time show the humanity of Carlota even when she was taking Cordelia's place. Jacqueline Andere was one of the smartest villains I have ever seen in a telenovela.

The problem with the DVD is the editing. They focus mostly in the story of Alvaro and Carlota and cut off many of the secondary character stories. There was not much of the romance of Bernarda and Roman, the story of Cordelia's family was totally deleted, when Carlota became Cordelia they were many scenes in which you could have been caught, for example the dog scene (Cordelia did not like dogs), the scene when Carlota is drowning (Cordelia could swim). These were the funny scenes of the story and they are gone. Also, the DVD does not cover Regina's disease, and does not show when she dies. For people that never watched the show it will be confusing to hear some things when they did not have the proper background to understand. And finally, the DVD did not show Bernarda's ending which I think was a big mistake. The ending is disturbing, because after all that she did, she escapes and in the last scene she is shown in the beach flirting with young guys.

The soap opera is the best, the DVD did not do a good job. I still recommend it.

This was a very well written, acted, directed, and captivation telenovela. It had all the great ingredients and very wonderful actors in it. I agree with the previous review, this was one of Juan Soler's best acting. I also hope that they release Angela soon. Angelica rivera and Juan Soler were awesome in that telenovela!!

La Otra is a wonderful story if truly "incredible" in terms of its plot. As always, I wish that the story line were not so disconnected. This one does a pretty good job of telling the story although it's clear that so much is missing. My problem is that I had to send the DVD back because of damaged areas. The second one that replaced it was even worse. I wonder if it has something to do with the two-sided format that is used for these discs. Very frustrating.

Good quality of image, the story is very good but unfortunately the DVDs only contain the main part of the story, every thing else has been cut off.

El Producto me llego Mal, los Discos Estan Rayados, los 3 Dvds, el Disco 2 No Se Ve casi nada el Lado 2. Y el Disco 3 no se ve casi todo, del lado 2, sobre todo en el Comienzo y en el Gran Final de la Telenovela. Al Limpiarlos con una Franela Nueva, Sin Uso, logre que se viera un poco mas, pero no estan bien los Discos.
En cuanto a la Edicion de la Telenovela esta bien, aunque podria haber sido muchisimo mejor.
El Final de Cordelia esta editado, no se ve cuando ella corta la luz y Adrian sale afuera de la casa y llama a la Empleada, Simona y ella le dice que seguramente alguno de los trabajadores bajo la llave sin querer, y eso lo entiendo, porque en el Final esa mujer tiene gran importancia, ya que es la que lleva el maletin que Bernarda le pidio a Adrian a cambio de la combinacion de la caja fuerte, escena que por supuesto no esta en el Dvd, por eso las quitaron.
Estoy Muy Molesto porque sacaron mucho del Final, podrian haber dejado mas, un capitulo de mas de 40 Minutos lo Resumen a menos de 20 Minutos.
Faltan muchas Escenas, sobre todo cuando Adrian sigue a Bernarda al banco y la quiere obligar a que le entregue el dinero, eso esta, pero no estan las escenas siguientes, cuando ella se le escapa al sacar el dinero y Adrian la persigue y le dice que llamo a la Policia y le dijo todo lo que ella ha hecho, que le conviene fugarse con el, luego, los 2 van a la terraza de un edificio, en el cual discuten por el dinero y Adrian se lo trata de arrebatar y se les cae el maletin. Pactan un arreglo, en el que Bernarda le promete dar la combinacion de la caja fuerte de la casa siempre y cuando el le deje el otro maletin en el lugar que acordaron. Lo que pasa despues si lo tiene, que es cuando Bernarda encuentra el dinero y cae en la trampa que le tendio a Adrian y el se burla de ella, abre la caja fuerte y se gatilla la pistola y lo mata, y ella se burla de el. Me molesto que no tenga esas escenas tan importantes del Gran Final ya que la Telenovela toma gran protagonismo en la trama final, en los ultimos capitulos. Y lo Peor de todo es que sobre los minutos finales, en la transmision televisiba se veia a Bernarda en otro pais y haciendo de las suyas, que evidentemente, se habia fugado con el dinero despues de matar a Adrian, escena clave e importante, ya que ese era el Final de la Villana y que No Esta en el Dvd.
A mi en lo Personal se me hizo algo aburrida la Novela.
En los Inicios tiene muy buenas escenas de Jacqueline Andere con Yadhira Carrillo, discuciones, dialogos, escenas fuertes pero el Lado 2 del Disco 1 y el Dvd 2 del Lado 1 se hace muy aburrido y molesto de ver ya que en todo ese desarrollo Carlota se la pasa llorando por Alvaro y su Hermana Eugenia y algo que se hace un fastidio es ver todo el tiempo, una y otra vez a Carlota llorar con el Piano que Alvaro le regalo, podrian al menos haber sacado eso, al menos una de las cuantas/diferentes veces que llora por eso, es como una escena reiterada de lo mismo, nada mas que en otro momento y con otra vestimenta, pero no deja de ser aburrido.
En el Dvd 1, sobre el final falta algo importante en la Historia como lo es la Muerte de Eugenia, la Hermana de Carlota. Se ve cuando Bernarda le da la noticia a Carlota, pero no cuando Eugenia Muere.
Por otra parte considero que sacan muchas escenas importantes de Cordelia para dejar mas de Carlota y Alvaro, cosa que me parece muy mal, ya que en esas escenas Cordelia toma mas Protagonismo, pues es quien esta con Alvaro despues que el cree que Carlota murio.
Otro detalle importante, que no se entiende mucho en el Dvd es que Cordelia toca el piano, la cancion de amor que a Carlota y Alvaro les gustaba, cosa que no me queda muy claro, ya que Cordelia no tocaba el piano, ademas, como sabia?, quien le dijo que esa era la melodia?, como se entero?, por quien?
La Historia en si, contada por los resumenes del Dvd recien toma protagonismo en el Disco 2, del lado 1, y sobre la parte final, cuando Carlota se va de viaje, en el cruzero y se encuentra con Alvaro y se hace pasar por Cordelia, digamos que fue lo que mas me atrajo, el Inicio y eso, mas las escenas de Cordelia, todas, de las pocas que dejaron, lo demas me aburrio mucho.
Y una cosa muy importante y que es una critica a la Telenovela no al Dvd, es que los Dialogos de Pensamientos de Carlota y de Alvaro se ven demasiados Sobreactuados, sus voces, y las imagenes que representan los pensamientos, no me gusto para nada. Ademas el Disco 2 del Lado 2 tiene un Defecto Importante de Edicion y es que los Editores dejaron una misma escena 2 veces, la Escena de cuando Adrian le entrega a Carlota una supuesta carta que le mando por fax Cordelia, se ve 2 veces lo mismo en el Dvd.
La Historia de Adrian, Fabiana y Narciso quedo muy confusa, debido a que sacan muchas escenas sobre eso, y no se entiende lo que pasa.
Tambien falta cuando Bernarda atropella a la mujer de Roman y le hace perder el hijo, cuando Adrian incendia la choza de Cuco, el final de el complice de Adrian, Issac, y la enfermedad y muerte de Regina. Tampoco se ve lo que pasa con Librado, Carlota y Delfino. Solamente se ve una Escena en la que Carlota promete ver, cuidar y hacerse cargo de Librado, el hijo de su hermana Eugenia, pero eso pasa mucho antes del Final.
Se perdio todo lo de la relacion de Eugenia y Santos y de Bernarda y los Roman.
La Telenovela se la lleva el Personaje de Cordelia, cien por ciento y Jacqueline Andere, en su Papel Antagonico como Bernarda, no cabe duda.
Lamento que hayan quitado tanto de Cordelia para dejar escenas tan aburridas de llanto, dolor y sufrimiento de Carlota, tendrian que haber equilibrado y repartido mas las escenas con ambas, no solo con Carlota.

I love the main actors. This Telenovela is full of
Excitement & passion. A longing for a lost love makes
This novela even more interesting...plus the guy is super
Cute.

Rubi was a horrible version on DVD and left me with no desire to purchase any other titles but LA OTRA is a different story. This novela was a must for me as it was a huge hit on TV but I wasnt able to watch when it originally aired and luckily now i own it. The story is GREAT, mainly focused on Carlota (Yadhira Carillo) and Alvaros (Juan Soler) love but still we have the evilness and cruelty of Bernarda (Carlotas mother) which adds more Tapatio sauce to this Delicious story. There is a few things that i thought were missing but as the storyline advances the questions are answered. I can see how the storyline was tweeked a bit for the DVD edition but nevertheless GREAT! Very intense and impossible to stop watching, prepare yourself to have LA OTRA take over your life and let the Nail Biting begin.