During the late Eighties Mexico experienced a reconfiguration as to how soap operas had to be. With stories that departed from the more Harlequin-esquire norm, they created some of the most memorable serials of all times, starting with 1986's "Cuna de Lobos" and "Senda de Gloria" and culminating with "El Extrano Retorno de Diana Salazar", which went even farther in telling a story that while remained firmly grounded in the romantic-triangle plot, simply broke grounds of how it could be told, and where its plot could go.
The story can be interpreted in various ways. The most simple points at the plot of "Diana Salazar" being placed in 1627 as Leonor de Santiago, a noblewoman about to be married to Don Eduardo Carbajal, is about to be burned at the stake because of an accusation made by a jealous Lucrecia Trevino that she is a witch. These accusations were made believable because Leonor had telekinetic powers in which she could cause objects to move without her consent and could also see what others could not see. Lucrecia's accusation also implicates Eduardo by association and as both are about to die at the stake, they swear eternal love for each other as Lucrecia is about to hang herself, horrified at what she has done -- and then Diana Salazar awakens in the present time from a recurring nightmare, screaming.
The plot of the present is as convoluted as can be and veers off into espionage, murders, double-crosses, and faked deaths, all the time as the three major characters begin to converge once more towards their karmic battle: Diana Salazar is the young college student who also has telekinetic powers and dreams she is in 1627, her psychologist is Irene delConde who has an unspoken animosity against her young client and only when she takes a trip to the de Santiago's house (now a museum) and suffers a fainting spell while watching a portrait of Leonor de Santiago (which is the spitting image of Diana) does she realize her shared history. More so with the appearance of the man between them, Mario Villareal, who has just met Diana and is quite taken with her without knowing who she really is.
Groundbreaking for its time and with a story unequaled in scope and sheer brilliance, "El Extrano Retorno de Diana Salazar", translated as "The Strange Return of Diana Salazar" would be a treat for the likes of David Lynch should he get his hands on the material. Because the story uses the "it was just a dream" not once, but twice, and both times with great effect, it bypasses the folds of time where another story would have failed. This technique, seen recently in Ira Levin's sequel to ROSEMARY'S BABY, doesn't work for the same reason it works here -- like MULHOLLAND DR., time and events bend like a Moebius strip and what may be happening now is but the unveiling of a glimmer of a dream in the past, and what happened in the past may also be the dream of a young woman's present.
With nods to CARRIE, SCANNERS, and "Dark Shadows", "El Extrano Retorno de Diana Salazar" is an excellent soap opera and proof that the "formula" where boy-meets-girl can be told in other ways instead of the same old routine way. It's too bad Mexico decided to go back to conventions and tell the same old stories it's been telling since it began making soaps back in the early 1950s. A first-rate cast with Lucia Mendez, Alma Muriel, Jorge Manriquez, Patricia Reyes Spindola, and Carlos Camera in the lead roles, this one has some great twists and a climactic sequence that has to be seen to be believed.
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