You Are the One (Argentine TV series)

You Are the One
[[Image:Sosmivida.jpg|200px]]
Genre	Drama Humour
Created by	Adrián Suar
Written by	Ernesto Korovsky Sebastián Parrotta
Directed by	Rodolfo Antúnez Jorge Bechara
Starring	Natalia Oreiro Facundo Arana
Opening theme	"Corazon Valiente" by Natalia Oreiro
Ending theme	"Corazon Valiente" by Natalia Oreiro
Composer	Natalia Oreiro
Country of origin	Argentina
Original language	Spanish
No. of episodes	230
Production
Executive producer	Adrián González
Producers	Mariana Petraglia Julieta Martinelli
Production location	Buenos Aires
Cinematography	Pablo Storino Jorge Fernández
Editors	Alejandro Alem Alejandro Parysow
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	Canal 13
Release	16 January 2006 – 9 January 2007

Sos mi Vida (You're my life) is a 2006 Argentine romantic comedy TV series, starred by Facundo Arana and Natalia Oreiro, directed by Rodolfo Antúnez and Jorge Bechara and broadcast by Canal 13. It began broadcasting on January 16, 2006 and ending January 9, 2007, and during its broadcast averaged 26.9 points overall rating. It was written by Ernesto Korovsky and Sebastian Parrotta, and won four Martín Fierro Awards and three Clarín Awards.

Premise

The telenovela was produced by Pol-ka over a premise of Adrián Suar. As it is customary in the production, he formulated it nearly six months before the premiere. This was a "rich man, owner of a company with unspecified business and former Formula 1 racer falls in love with a poor girl looking for work in his emporium". Suar began discussing the idea with his partner Javier Blanco y Tevah, detailing the specifics of the plot. The scripts were requested to Ernesto Korovsky and Sebastian Parrotta, the authors of Gasoleros and El sodero de mi vida, and Hombres de honor and Padre Coraje respectively. Daniel De Felippo and Rodolfo Antúnez managed the direction, and César Markus González the production. The bulk of the filming was done in the Pol-ka studio at the Colegiales neighbourhood, using as well unconventional outdoor scenes for the genre.

The telenovela features Facundo Arana and Natalia Oreiro in leading roles, an acting duo from the successful telenovela Muñeca Brava. The relationship between the two had surpassed the professional level, so Facundo Arana had spontaneously offered a guest appearence on the Russian series A ritmo de tango starred by Natalia Oreiro. Both actors conditioned their presence to a joint work, so the program design was decided only after both were confirmed in the leading roles. Natalia Oreiro delayed filming proposals in Israel, Spain and Uruguay, and the recording of her fouth music album, to join the project.

As in the aforementioned Muñeca Brava, You're the one is based on a counterpoint of a couple of a wealthy suitor and a poor girl, but unlike the former one it does not concentrate all the characters on one main narrative context (which was the Di Carlo mansion, living place of all the characters) but organized instead two contexts for both the rich and the poor, each one with its own characteristic locations and supporting characters.

The character of Natalia Oreiro, included in a background of poor characters, is called Esperanza Muñoz, a female boxer nicknamed "La Monita". Natalia was inspired by the singer Gilda to outline the personality of the character. The primary environment is in a tenement in the neighborhood of La Boca where she lives with other characters. Her adoptive mother Nieves (Dalma Milebo) lives with her natural son, Enrique "Quique" Ferreti (Carlos Belloso), and childhood boyfriend of Esperanza. The writers drafted only the general outlines of the character Quique, most of his characteristic personality was defined by Belloso, including the relation with Esperanza, halfway between engagement and brotherhood, and his Oedipus complex with his mother. Other characters in the "Conventillo" are the actress Nilda Yadhur (Mónica Ayos), known as "The Turk", and the Paraguayan janitor Kimberly (Fabiana García Lago). Esperanza trains as a boxer in a neighbourhood gym, as well as Quique, who has a wrestling gimmick as the "Commander Ray".

The character of Facundo Arana establishes a context of characters with a favorable economic situation. His character is named Martin Quesada, a businessman and Formula 1 driver, but is not presented as selfish or greedy as is the archetype of entrepreneurs in the soaps. The two locations associated with him are the Quesada Group office, where he is president, and his home. The office has the characters of Alfredo Uribe (Alejandro Awada), his chief adviser, the secretary Mercedes (Claudia Fontán) and his cousin Miguel Quesada (Marcelo Mazzarello), who has served as vice president. The actor Pablo Cedrón joined the cast later, playing the lawyer Felix Perez Garmendia. Other close people are his girlfriend Constanza Insua (Carla Peterson) and his cousin Debbie (Griselda Siciliani). Martín lives with the housekeeper Rosa (Adela Gleijer), Rosa's grandson Tony (Nicholas D'Agostino) and three adopted orphan siblings, José, Laura and Coqui (Elías Viñoles, Thelma Fardin and Ornella Fazio respectively). Another recurring site is the apartment of Miguel and Debbie, which would be also used as the house of Constanza or Garmendia if needed.

Plot

The story begins with a fight of the female boxer Esperanza Muñoz, the "Monita", who injured her hand under pressure from his manager to fight despite feeling pain. This injury complicated her economic situation, as her pugilistic activity is the source of income of her adoptive family. Her neighbour Kimberly suggested her to apply for a job in the Quesada Group, where she works as janitor, but Esperanza was rejected by the secretary Mercedes. Martín Quesada, president of the company, saw her crying in the street and hired her. Martín also met three orphan siblings who opposed being adopted by different families, and adopted them. Martín began to like Esperanza, and his girlfriend Constanza was wary on her. Esperanza was the girlfriend of her manager Quique, but did not tell Martín about it, saying instead that he was her brother. Quique and Contanza began their own relation, unnoticed by their couples and most other characters. Martín broke with Esperanza when he saw her goodbye kiss with Quique, which proved that she was lying to him all along.

After breaking with Esperanza, Martín resumed his relation with Constanza, and gets married with her. The judge, who thought that Esperanza was a bad influence on the kids, gave the adoption to Constanza instead of Martín, which also forced him to marry her. Their marriage proved difficult, as Constanza was demanding and possesive. Martín finally broke with Constanza when she acted as being blind to keep him with her. The legal tutelage of the children delays the divorce, as Martín wants to retain them. Martín gradually lost his fortune, his business and his house, moved to the Conventillo and worked as a taxi driver; eventually he recovers everything. A new character, Bárbara, temporarily joins the love triangle of Martín, Esperanza and Constanza. Constanza got pregnant of Quique and tried to pass her son as a son of Quesada, but failed. Martín finally married Esperanza and had a family with her and the children, and Constanza moves with Quique.

Production

The direction of the program was conducted by Daniel De Felippo and Rodolfo Antúnez, and production by César Markus González. The main filming were located at the headquarters of Pol-ka in the Colegiales neighbourhood.

Despite the success, the telenovela tried several risks in the creative and production fields, most times with successful results. The choice of a background for Martín Quesada as a Formula 1 driver meant to work with a large infrastructure to represent realistic races. The plot scenes that took place away from Buenos Aires were actually filmed out of the city, to ensure maxium realism. There was significant press coverage to the location shooting in Germany during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Facundo Arana and Natalia Oreiro played their caracters during the Argentina-Serbia and Montenegro match, in the Veltins-Arena stadium. The shooting was benefited by the result of the match, a 6-0 Argentine victory, and the episode got 31,5 rating points. Another location shooting was done in the touristic ski resort Las Leñas, located in the Andes. A simulated aircraft crash that left the characters in the jungle was filmed at the Pereyra Iraola park and a park in Morón belonging to the Argentine Air Force.

To ease the realism of her performance as a female boxer, Natalia Oreiro trained regularly with the renowned boxer Marcela Acuña and his coach Ramón Chaparro. Facundo Arana was advised by the pilot Alberto Di Giorgio. The actress was taught to stand and move in the ring and the various types of strokes, and underwent cardiovascular and weight training. Marcela Acuña pointed that Oreiro mastered the basic techniques much more quickly than most beginner boxers. For this training, Natalia Oreiro had to temporarily give up her vegetarianism.

Another plot required the characters to fly a Piper Tomahawk and make an emergency landing. This was risky filming, as Arana and Oreiro did not use stunt doubles for it. The scene, which was the first of its kind in a daily Argentine telenovela, was the work of a team of 5 people, four professional pilots, five special effects experts and two additional aircraft that filmed the main aircraft from the outside.

The song opening is Gilda's "Corazón valiente" (Spanish: Braveheart), singed by Natalia Oreiro. It has a musical production by Toti Gimenez, widower and productor of the late Gilda. Oreiro is a fan of the singer, and chose the song as an homage for the 10 years after her death.

Guest actors

The program used several guest stars, who interpreting secondary or support roles for a few episodes. Some guest stars interpreted themselves within the fiction of the program, such as the singers Chayanne, Ricky Martin and Julieta Venegas. Venegas' song "Tu nombre" is used as a background song in romantic settings. The boxer Marcela Acuña, the personal trainer of Natalia Oreiro, appeared on two occasions, interpreting herself in a match against Oreiro's character. The appearence of the actress Leticia Brédice was nominated as "best cameo in fiction" in the Martín Fierro Awards; the prize was finally given to Nora Cárpena. Actress Reina Reech delayed other projects to take part in the program.

Narration

The program expanded the usual conventions of the genre by using several types of metafiction, referencing the actors themselves or the nature of the program. An example within the plot was "Sos mi muqui", a program within the program whose characters were based on the main characters. The actors' former characters were ocationally referenced in plots that placed them in similar contexts than those of older fictions. Facundo Arana infiltrated a convent using an habit, similar to the one he used at Padre Coraje, and Natalia Oreiro donned clothes similar to those the "Cholito" from Muñeca Brava when they had to get into a slum.

Many actors played a secondary character, as well as their main one, during the telenovela. Pablo Cedrón played a Paraguayan brother of his character Falucho, which were both involved in a love triangle with Kimberly. Carlos Belloso played a lost sister of Quique, dressed as a woman. Natalia Oreiro, who speaks russian language with ease because of an early work in Russia, played as a Russian princess. Facundo Arana played a criminal, a role unlike both his ongoing one and others taken in his previous works. Those scenes did not use special effects, shoting each character by the same actor separately, without shared screen scenes.

The hero of the telenovela got married with the villain, unlike the usual conventions in which such a wedding was interrupted or cancelled at the last moment. The wedding was close in time to another wedding in a contemporary telenovela, Collar de Esmeraldas. This action would have difficulted the later wedding of the main couple, because the Church considers marriage indissoluble despite of divorce, and annulment is not granted for light reasons. To avoid this, the first one was only a civil marriage, without religious intervention.

Cast

• Natalia Oreiro as Esperanza "Monita" Muñoz
• Facundo Arana as Martin Quesada
• Carlos Belloso as Quique
• Claudia Fontán as Mercedes
• Alejandro Awada as Alfredo Uribe
• Marcelo Mazzarello as Miguel Quesada
• Fabiana García Lago as Kimberly
• Monica Ayos as Nilda Yadhur 'La Turca'
• Adela Gleijer as Rosa
• Dalma Milevos as Nieves
• Elías Viñoles as José Fernández
• Griselda Siciliani as Deborah "Debi" Quesada
• Nicolás D'Agostino as Tony
• Thelma Fardin as Laura Fernández
• Carla Peterson as Constanza Insúa

Reception

Rating

The program was released in January, a month of low TV activity in Argentina because of the summer vacations. Nevertheless, it was a high success. The competitor channel Telefe aired the teen comedy Alma Pirata, which was re-scheduled because of its low rating. It was replaced with the second season of Casados con Hijos, a local remake of the American sitcom Married... with Children starred by Guillermo Francella and Florencia Peña. Both programs had similar rating until the end of Casados... in August. Sos mi vida ended as the most watched fiction in the television of Argentina.

Awards

The program was awarded the best TV comedy in the 2006 ceremony of the Martín Fierro Awards, prevailing over Casados con hijos and Quién es el jefe?. Facundo Arana received the award for best lead actor in comedy, prevailing over Guillermo Francella, Humberto Tortonese and Nicolás Vázquez. Natalia Oreiro was awarded as the best lead actress in comedy, prevailing over Florencia Peña, Nancy Duplaá, Carmen Barbieri and Andrea Bonelli. Three of the five nominations for supporting comedy actor were for actors from the program: Alejandro Awada, Marcelo Mazzarello and Carlos Belloso, the latter being the winner. Similarily, three of five nominations for supporting comedy actress were for Carla Peterson, Mónica Ayos and Claudia Fontán, but the award was granted to Érika Rivas, actress of Casados con hijos. The program also had unsuccessful nominations for best theme song and best guest appearence (Leticia Brédice).

Facundo Arana and Natalia Oreiro were nominated again in the 2007 ceremony of the Martín Fierro Awards. These nominations proved controversial, as the program only lasted for a week in 2007 before the end and had no second season, and both actors took a recess from work after it. Neither of them received an award for those nominations. Natalia Oreiro was awarded as the best dressed actress of the night, an award created that year, which is not part of the official awards.

The Clarín Awards ceremony took place in late 2006. The program was awarded as best comedy, prevailing over Casados con hijos and Alma Pirata. Elías Viñoles was awarded as male revelation. Ornella Fazio was nominated for female revelation, the award was given to María Abadi of Montecristo. Unlike the Martín Fierro, the Clarín awards make no distinction for lead or supporting actors. Carlos Belloso was awarded as best comedy actor, Natalia Oreiro was nominated and the award was given to Érika Rivas.

Critical reception

The Clarin newspaper attributes the success of the program to various factors, such as performances by the leading couple and supporting actors, the subplots, production initiatives and the originality of the treatment of stories. It also notes that the plot does not feature just the central couple, developing as well many other romantic ties with their own autonomy and specific approaches. Those include the romances of Constanza and Quique, Alfredo and Mercedes, Nilda and Jose, and Debbie and Rolando Martínez. The work of the supporting cast was also praised, including Carla Peterson, Fabiana Garcia Lago and Marcelo Mazzarello. According to the newspaper, these features allowed the program to excel despite being based on a concept, the romance between a poor girl and a rich boy, that is a common trope of telenovelas. Such a plot was also being used in other telenovelas aired in Argentina during that year, as Se dice amor, Collar de Esmeraldas, Rosalinda, Todos quieren con Marilyn and La Tormenta. The newspaper La Nación praised the ability to mix sitcom humor and telenovela drama, and equaled the dramatic episodes to the works of renowned telenovela authors as Abel Santa Cruz, Alberto Migré and Delia Fiallo.

The program was critizised by the long time, nearly three months, before the lead couple had heir first kiss. Clarín criticized as well a badly performed striptease act by Facundo Arana. As Carlos Belloso could not go with Arana and Oreiro to the shooting in the world Cup, he was filmed in the Plaza San Martín, pretending that he was in Germany as well.

The program was scheduled to be aired at 21:00, but the channel made frequent delays to begin, sometimes of 30 or 40 minutes. This led to conflicts with the other channels and the COMFER, the institution that regulates the Argentine television. The last episode lasted for half an hour, followed by the premiere of the new telenovela Son de Fierro; La Nación considers that the last episode should have had the common lenght of a full hour.

Remakes

• Mexico - Un gancho al corazón (2008)

A Polish remake, titled Prosto w serce (Straight at Your Heart) is currently broadcast by TVN

Broadcasters

Country	Alternate title/Translation	TV network(s)	Series premiere	Weekly schedule
Argentina	Sos Mi Vida	Canal 13 / Magazine	January 16, 2006
Belgium	Martin en Monita	Vitaya		Mon-Fri 05:40 Am
Bulgaria	Ти си моят живот	Nova Television
Bosnia	Začin života	FTV	Juny 10,2007	Mon-Fri 6:15 PM
Croatia	Začin života	RTL Televizija
Czech republic	Jsi můj život	TV Prima	March 9, 2007	Mon-Fri 9:40 AM
Greece	Σαρίτα, είσαι η ζωή μου	Star	March 2007 & September 2011	Mon-Fri 19:00 PM - Mon-Fri 11:15 AM (the 2nd time)
Hungary	Te vagy az életem	RTL Klub	July 10, 2006	Mon-Fri 7:00 PM
Israel	חיים שלי	Viva Channel
pgdm || Ти си мојот живот || Alsat M || October 6, 2008|| Mon-Fri 5:00 PM
Poland	Jesteś moim życiem	TV4	August 26, 2006
Portugal	Deixa-me Amar	TVI
Puerto Rico	Eres Mi Vida	Telemundo	November 19, 2007	Mon-Fri 9:00 AM
Romania	Esti Viaţa Mea	Acasă	September 18, 2006	Mon-Fri 7:30 PM
Russia	Ты - моя жизнь	Домашний	August 28, 2006	Mon-Fri 7:30 PM
Slovakia	Rany z lásky	TV Markíza	October 1, 2007	Mon-Fri 2:30 PM
Slovenia	Razigrani par	POP TV	September 3, 2007	Mon-Fri 4.50 PM
Turkey	Aşk Meleğim	Kanal D	January 8, 2007	only 41 episodes
Albania	Ti je jeta ime	Koha TV	2005	Mon-Fri
Georgia	შენ ჩემი ცხოვრება ხარ	Rustavi 2	June 1, 2010	Mon-Fri 2.00 PM / in November 2010 was replaced to 12.20 pm/ after 200 episodes was cancelled for poor rating

External links

• You Are the One at IMDb
• Natalia Oreiro Official Site