Two people being able to live the relationship while being themselves
Em um altar de novela, dois personagens se casam carregando lutos que ainda não terminaram — e uma psicóloga enxerga nisso não um recomeço, mas uma fuga disfarçada de amor. Lara e Mateus, de *Um Lugar ao Sol*, encontraram um no outro o espelho de suas próprias dores, e é justamente essa identificação que, segundo a especialista Maria Angélica Gabriel, condena a relação antes mesmo de ela florescer. A história deles ecoa uma questão humana antiga: confundimos reconhecimento com amor, e chamamos de conexão o que é, muitas vezes, apenas o conforto de não sofrer sozinho.
- Lara aceitou se casar com Mateus não por amor genuíno, mas para tentar enterrar os sentimentos que ainda nutre por Christian, o protagonista da trama.
- A psicóloga Maria Angélica Gabriel alerta: quando duas pessoas se unem pela dor compartilhada, estão construindo um vínculo frágil — identificação não é amor, e a diferença cobra seu preço com o tempo.
- A energia psíquica de Lara, no sentido freudiano, ainda está investida em Christian; ela parte para o Rio de Janeiro com o novo marido para investigar o desaparecimento do antigo amor, levando o passado dentro da mala.
- O casal corre o risco de nunca desenvolver uma dinâmica conjugal saudável — podendo permanecer juntos por anos em um padrão que a especialista chama de patológico, sem jamais experimentar o bem-estar que o casamento poderia oferecer.
Uma psicóloga assistiu a cenas de *Um Lugar ao Sol* e chegou a uma conclusão pouco romântica: Lara e Mateus estão construindo um casamento sobre bases frágeis. Para Maria Angélica Gabriel, o que une os dois personagens não é amor, mas identificação — ambos estão de luto, e encontraram um no outro o reflexo de sua própria dor.
Lara, vivida por Andréia Horta, concordou em se casar com o namorado da adolescência esperando superar os sentimentos por Christian. Mateus, por sua vez, perdeu a primeira esposa para uma doença. Gabriel explica que esse tipo de vínculo funciona no início, mas tende a se desfazer quando a individualidade de cada um começa a emergir. 'A probabilidade de dar certo é pequena', afirma a especialista.
A psicóloga recorre ao conceito freudiano de libido — não no sentido sexual restrito, mas como energia psíquica — para explicar o impasse de Lara: essa energia ainda está investida em Christian. Ela não a libertou para direcioná-la a Mateus ou a si mesma. Tanto que, nos próximos capítulos, ela se muda para o Rio de Janeiro com o marido para investigar o que realmente aconteceu na noite em que Christian desapareceu.
Gabriel lembra que não existe prazo fixo para o luto. Algumas pessoas atravessam suas etapas e emergem prontas para amar de novo; outras ficam presas, incapazes de processar a perda. O perigo para Lara e Mateus é que os dois estão apressando um casamento sem respeitar seus próprios tempos emocionais. Se o padrão não mudar, a especialista avisa, eles podem passar a vida inteira juntos — mas vivendo lutos paralelos, confundindo reconhecimento com amor, até que um dos dois perceba a diferença.
On a Brazilian soap opera set, two characters stand at an altar with what looks like a future ahead of them. But according to psychologist Maria Angélica Gabriel, who watched scenes from Um Lugar ao Sol and offered her professional assessment, Lara and Mateus are building a marriage on sand.
Lara, played by Andréia Horta, agreed to marry Mateus, her boyfriend from adolescence, hoping to bury feelings for Christian, the show's protagonist. The problem, Gabriel explains, is that Lara doesn't actually love Mateus—she recognizes herself in him. "She enters this relationship with Mateus as if he were herself," the psychologist says. "It works at the beginning, but later on, each person's individuality and subjectivity start to emerge, and that's when these relationships fall apart."
Both characters are grieving. Lara is haunted by Christian's apparent death. Mateus lost his first wife to illness. They found each other in that shared wound, which Gabriel identifies as the core problem. Their bond is identification, not love. Two people drowning together can feel like connection, but it isn't the same as two people choosing to build something. "The probability of it working out is small," Gabriel says. "What we call success is two people being able to live the relationship while being themselves at the same time."
Lara's emotional life remains tangled in the past. She still thinks about Christian constantly and, in upcoming episodes, will move to Rio de Janeiro with Mateus to investigate what really happened the night he disappeared. She's chasing answers about a possible murder while her new husband follows along. Gabriel draws on Sigmund Freud's concept of libido—not desire in the narrow sense, but psychic energy—to explain why Lara can't let go. That energy is still invested in Christian. She hasn't freed it up to invest elsewhere, in Mateus or in herself.
There is no fixed timeline for grief, Gabriel notes. Some people move through the classical stages—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance—and emerge ready to love again. Others get stuck. They become melancholic, unable to process what happened, continuing to live inside the loss even after the mourning period should have ended. The danger for Lara and Mateus is that they're not respecting their own timelines. They're rushing into marriage while still carrying unresolved pain, hoping the other person will somehow make it lighter.
If the relationship continues in this pattern, Gabriel warns, they risk never developing a healthy marriage at all. They might stay together—people can remain in what she calls pathological dynamics for a lifetime. But they won't experience the kind of well-being that marriage is supposed to offer. They'll be two people living parallel griefs, mistaking recognition for love, until one of them finally realizes the difference.
Notable Quotes
She enters this relationship with Mateus as if he were herself. It works at the beginning, but later on, each person's individuality and subjectivity start to emerge, and that's when these relationships fall apart.— Psychologist Maria Angélica Gabriel
The probability of it working out is small. What we call success is two people being able to live the relationship while being themselves at the same time.— Psychologist Maria Angélica Gabriel
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
So the psychologist is saying they're doomed from the start?
Not quite. She's saying the foundation is unstable. They're not actually in love—they're in a kind of mirror. Each one sees their own pain reflected back.
But couldn't that be enough? Shared experience, mutual understanding?
For a while, maybe. But Gabriel's point is that it works only as long as they stay identical to each other. The moment one person starts to heal differently, or want something different, the whole thing cracks.
And Lara is still emotionally tied to Christian.
Completely. She hasn't processed that loss. She's using Mateus as a way to avoid it, not as a real partner. She's literally moving to Rio to investigate Christian's death while married to someone else.
That seems like a pretty clear signal.
It is. Gabriel would say Lara hasn't done the work. She's skipped steps. You can't build something new while you're still living in something old.