Like
Water for Chocolate - Mexican films - Alfonso Arau
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Like Water for Chocolate
(Como Agua Para Chocolate)
Mexico - 1992
Directed by Alfonso Arau
Told as a legendary love story, Like Water for Chocolate is a
delicious, magical film about the power of a young woman's love. Tita (Lumi Cavazos)
is in love with Pedro (Marco Leonardi) but, bound by tradition, must remain unmarried to
care for her aging mother (Regina Torne). Pedro, unwilling to leave Tita's side,
agrees to marry her older sister, Rosura (Yareli Arizmendi), instead. Tita discovers
that she has the power to greatly influence people with her recipes. When her tears
fall into the sugar of the wedding cake she is baking for Pedro and Rosura, the guests who
eat the cake begin to weep uncontrollably.
The title, Like Water for Chocolate, refers to the temperature that water must be brought to in order to melt chocolate, it is also used as an expression to describe sexual arousal. Alfonso Arau won the Golden Ariel from the Mexican Academy Awards for Like Water for Chocolate (1992), which was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film (1993).
Runtime: 123 Minutes
Guest Comments
From: "ellen flanders"
"Like Water For Chocolate is simply delectable. A wonderful treat for the senses."
From: "Lexy Romania"
"I THOUGHT THAT LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE WAS TRULY CAPTIVATING. IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFULMOVIE I HAVE SEEN SINCE DR ZHIVAGO."
From: "MEL BALES"
"IT IS SAD THAT MEXICANS MEANING MOTHERS DID NOT ALLOW FOR THIER YOUNGER DAUGHTER TO GET MARRY, DON'T THEY KNOW NOT ONLY THIS CAN BACK FIRE IN THIER FACES, BUT ALSO THIER OWN STATE OF AFFAIRS CAN ALSO BE DAMAGING."
From: "bjbr"
"An excellent movie worthy of watching over. The only thing I lack from this movie is the soundtrack. I'd appreciate any assistance in sourcing a copy of the soundtrack."
From: "shortyju"
"i thought this movie was an excellent way of enfasising what it meant to be mexican in that time period... a lot of the footage shown shows us a typical day in mexico and the prodedures to do their everyday tasks... i really enjoyed this movie, and the spanish-english subtitles release us from the barrier of those who do not know spanish or are trying to learn it... i must add that the Dr. Brown has to be the cutest doctor there is... and that accent... well lets not go ther..."
From: "Samantha Wilbur"
"I thought that the movie was very good. It is easier to understand Esquivel's magical realism on screen."
From: "david verde"
"This is a wonderful film and a good example of the magical realism which makes latin american literature unique. It will keep you spellbound to the very end. I first saw it in a Spanish literature class at a time of day when I normally yawn and fall asleep. This dramatic film is the best foreign picture I have ever seen. It is a must for people who like Latin American culture, language, and literature."
From: "kris"
"A movie with rich imagery. I am also only misssing the soundtrack..."
From: "Kula"
"This movie is truly a gift to the arts. Its definitely a keeper. Each time I watch it, I uncover new meanings. Its like a blossoming flower. It gets better with each viewing."
From: "Abbas Mehdi"
"tells me how mexican people follow their hearts and let their hearts dominate their minds. It might sound good, but it isnt the best thing to do. God put your brain on top of your heart, get the hint. Tita and Pedro fall in love uncontrolablly. Understandable, but was it love? or lust? love at first sight it was, even before the two talked, seems to me a very strong form of physical attraction. And Tita's mother's rules about her marrage were ""just right"" to create a preassure cooker for Tita and her feelings. It taks a great soul to fall in love, but it takes an even greater to sacrafice that love. Therefore, like water for chocolate was not about great lovers, but fools who never got to know what love really is. There is only one feeling better than getting/taking something, and it is giving something. And in this move, all the characters wanted various things, no one was willing to give up anything."
From: "Alejandro"
"La neta es una verdadera chingoneria de pelicula..aunque no la he visto."
From: "Marro y Pathy"
"Sinceramente Cuál es el huevo de Laura Esquivel???? está película es la más cagaza que he visto en toda mi vida. Se da duro con The Blair Witch Project.
CACAZA BICHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"
From: "ria :)"
"The movie is really fascinating. It combines the drama of romance with humour and magic, without losing its impact as a great movie. This way, various emotions are evoked from the audience. La pelicula esta muy magnifico!!!!"
From: "Stella Johnson"
"I am posting this only because i outrageously DISAGREE with one of the persons who have commented on the brilliant movie; namely, Abbas Mehdi's opinion.
I think the movie is wonderfully dirtected, honestly speaking it is not one of THE best i have ever seen, but i liked the idea to use the kitchen and the food as
""tools,"" approaches to claim and recieve the love of thers. This person i absolutely cannot concur with, the aforementioned Abbas Mehdi, did not understand
the movie AT ALL. First, it is not true that Tita and Pedro did NOT feel any love between them, but only ""lust"" as Mehdi cites. Conversely, if you have seen the
scenes with sexual allusions, so much typical for the Mexican and Spanish cultures in general, as nothing more than mere transitive ""lust,"" I really feel sorry
for you, because you obviously cannot first SEE ( not look at, but see--I hope you know at least at this opposing pair what the difference between the two
verbs is) and second apprieciate great love. Have you ever fallen in love, true love, so deep and passioante that it can burn you from inside just like the couple-
of times-stated brilliant, original idea of the human soul composed of candles and fire??? Obviously not. Apparently, you are not strong in logic or making thoughtful
valid associations between ideas either. Your comment about the movie being only about sexual arousals and nothing more is flat,
unsuported by the director's
cinematographic approaches at all. I don't pretend to be Mr. Arau, but i will tell you form my perspective why the movie IS about LOVE and not lust, like you said.
If you have payed more careful attention to the description of the human soul by Dr. Brown and the scene where Pedro dies over Tita, because ""it is never good to
light all of one's soul candles AT ONCE,"" I hope you can understand better the movie's originality. Just because you have never experienced true love, or at least your
immature comment shows so, doesn't mean you have to speak so pejoratively and derrogatively about the movie.
Second, your very last comment--that ""everybody wants something always throughout the movie, but NOBODY is
willing to give something, because that's what great love is"" is also rather ridiculous and proves for a second time you haven't watched
the movie in your best state of mind and ability to THINK. I agree with the part of your
sentence that great love is when you are willing to give more to the other than to get from him or her, but nothing more in your sentence makes sense on the background
of the movie, which makes me wonder where your mind or bodily senses were while you wathced the movie, but that's your private issue that i do not want to explore.
Anyway, it is not true that nobody is not giving anything away. The biggest sacrifice INDEED is Tita's--she is never allowed, like you well noticed at least that fact, by her
mother to marry. Thus, Tita SACRIFICES HER OWN PRIVATE LIFE to please her mother and tradition, at the beginning. Just think of how many things Tita must give up to support
her ancestors' tradition, take care of her never-pleased mother, watch the babies, cook for the family, shed tears, if you wish, over the wedding cake...What about the
fact that her own mother curses her and she is never presented with having born a child on her own in the movie? To a more trivial level, Tita
is even willing to give away her virginity to the man she devotes her life,
Pedro. Anyway, thank you for reading my comment, if you ever read it. - Stella
Johnson"
From: "Catherine"
"I would love the recipe for quail with rose petal sauce."
From: "Rose"
"I have not yet seen the movie but i have read the book . It was to die for, something i could read over and over again. I'm guessing the movie is twice as good thanks for the info."
From: "Chistie and Mandy"
"We thought the novel, Like Water for chocolate, was an excellent read and possessed magic, but still dealt with issues facing a modern society.
A very magical experience."
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