In The Law According to Lidia Poët, Lidia’s sister-in-law, Teresa, is the exact opposite of Lidia. She is everything that society expects women to be and everything that Lidia is not. Teresa is played by Sara Lazzaro.
When Lidia’s registration to the Bar Association is declared null and void, preventing her from practicing law, penniless and with nowhere to go, she knocks on her brother’s door, seeking help.
Her sister-in-law, Teresa, is reluctant to let Lidia live with them. However, she has no choice but to let Lidia stay when she insists. Teresa considers Lidia to be a crazy woman, seeing how different the two women are from each other.
Teresa’s worldview
Teresa is prim and proper at all times. She sticks to the guidelines that society expects women to follow and never questions them.
During her first conversation with Lidia, she says to her that if God wanted her to be a lawyer, he would have made her a man because, in Teresa’s opinion, one’s gender determines one’s role in society, assigned to them at birth.
She tries to teach the same rules that she has been following all her life to her daughter, Marianna. She is always concerned about Marianna’s marriage, which was considered to be the sole purpose of women’s lives in the nineteenth century.
She tries very hard to get her daughter to be interested in things that are considered womanly, like dresses, playing the piano, and attending balls. Not surprisingly, Marianna looks up to Lidia and listens to her more than she listens to her mother, which bothers Teresa.
While the two women do not agree with each other’s views, there is no animosity between them. There are times when they side with each other, like the time when Teresa thinks that her husband should listen to Lidia and represent Miss Sangiacomo.
Teresa’s role in Marianna’s heartbreak
Marianna is in love with their gardener, Lorenzo. Lidia knows about their relationship and supports them. However, Teresa catches Lorenzo in her daughter’s room one night. Due to this, Enrico fires Lorenzo, upsetting Marianna.
Teresa asks Lidia to talk to Marianna to get her to understand that her parents are just trying to protect her. This does not help, as Marianna ends up running away from home. Marianna returns with Lidia and talks to her parents about getting married to Lorenzo.
When Teresa sees that Lorenzo has been able to convince Enrico to consider it and that Marianna is too stubborn to change her mind, Teresa decides to take matters into her own hands.
She pays Lorenzo a visit and tells him that she cannot allow him to marry her daughter because she knows that her daughter will get bored of him soon. She will then start seeing a rich man and being unfaithful to Lorenzo.
Teresa is sure that Marianna will break Lorenzo’s heart because it is in her nature. She offers Lorenzo enough money to chase his dreams and asks him to leave Marianna, stating that he cannot let her live in poverty.
The next day, Marianna gets a letter from Lorenzo in which he writes that he is leaving her. Marianna cries to her mother and thinks perhaps Teresa was right about him all along.
Before Lidia’s hearing, Teresa wishes her luck, as women need it even for issues that only require common sense.
Her uncharacteristic remark shocks everyone and implies that there is a possibility that she is also affected by the discrimination. However, she soon covers it up with one of her usual comments, but not without a slight smile.
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