Paulina de la Mora is a fictional character in the Netflix television series The House of Flowers, appearing in every episode and portrayed by Mexican actress Cecilia Suárez. The eldest daughter of the de la Mora family, she manages both her parents' businesses, a floristry shop and cabaret; being the eldest by several years, she also takes care of her siblings. She was once married to José María Riquelme before she transitioned, but reunites with the now María José after her father, Ernesto, is arrested. The couple have a teenage son, Bruno, and wed again in the series finale. The other main story for Paulina is learning about her biological father, after she finds out in season one that her parents married when her mother, Virginia, was already pregnant.
The character is notable for her distinctive style of speech and near-universal acclaim. Her statement fashion has also been prominently discussed. Suárez has received two Best Actress Platino Awards for the role. She became the lead in season two after the departure of Verónica Castro as Virginia.
Vogue España described Paulina as the best TV character of 2018, saying that Suárez's acting is the best they have seen in a long time, and that she will go down in television history. The character is described as a Mexican pop icon.
Development
Cecilia Suárez, who plays Paulina de la Mora, is a frequent collaborator with the show's creator, Manolo Caro, and had acted in all but one of his previous projects. Paulina is a main character, but in season one was second to the central character of Virginia, portrayed by Verónica Castro. Castro left before the show was renewed, and has given conflicting explanations as to why. For the second season, reviewers saw that "the closest thing the [show] has to a central character now" was Paulina, who steps up to take control of things and who was already a fan favorite; Rodrigo Munizaga speculated that Castro could have felt "overshadowed" by Suárez in the first season. In August 2018, El País described Paulina as a "heart stealer" and, in 2019, Vogue wrote that Suárez was "the new queen of the telenovela" because of the role.
Suárez was injured in the 2017 Puebla earthquake, which happened during filming; production was halted but she could not return to set for a month after production resumed. Though the character became very popular among fans, Suárez has dismissed claims that Paulina may have a spin-off, saying that she does not think Caro would do that, and that the character belongs in the story of the show.
Characterization
Caro has said that he thought Paulina would be "polarizing" when he wrote her, that people would either love her or hate her, not expecting her to be as popular as she was received; for this reason he quickly wrote Suárez a very different role in their 2018 film Perfect Strangers, so both creator and actress could have some mental space from the character in case she was disliked. The character is said to have "a personality that justifies going from drama to involuntary comedy", which has been assessed as a perfect fit for the style of the show. The concept of second chances is the "backbone" of Paulina's character, according to Suárez, who said that Caro concerned himself with this concept through the first two seasons.
Suárez describes Paulina as very loyal, being supportive of her family even when they are hit by scandals and their image ruined. Capelo writes that "Paulina is the classic daddy's girl who grows up in a patrician family", but also acts as the bearer of woes and is there to help them deal with social appearance issues. Cobb says that the character is the "ever-loyal daughter" and a "standout tyrant" in the sense that she goes to extreme lengths to defend her family, "and she never even smudges her flawless red lipstick while she's doing it."