Like Water for Chocolate (1992)

When tradition prevents her from marrying the man she loves, a young woman discovers she has a unique talent for cooking.

Director:

Alfonso Arau

Writers:

Laura Esquivel (novel), Laura Esquivel (screenplay)

Stars:

Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos, Regina Torné

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 26 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marco Leonardi	...	Pedro Muzquiz
Lumi Cavazos	...	Tita
Regina Torné	...	Mamá Elena
Mario Iván Martínez	...	Doctor John Brown
Ada Carrasco	...	Nacha
Yareli Arizmendi	...	Rosaura
Claudette Maillé	...	Gertrudis
Pilar Aranda	...	Chencha
Farnesio de Bernal	...	Cura
Joaquín Garrido	...	Sargento Treviño
Rodolfo Arias	...	Juan Alejándrez
Margarita Isabel	...	Paquita Lobo
Sandra Arau	...	Esperanza Muzquiz
Andrés García Jr.	...	Alex Brown
Regino Herrera	...	Nicolás

Storyline

In a forgotten Mexico village Tita and Pedro fall in love, but their marriage is forbidden as to traditions. Mother Elena sees Tita's role as her caretaker for life - no youngest daughter has ever married and her daughter will not be the first to break tradition. Tita's heart breaks when her mother offers Pedro her sister instead of her, and he accepted it just to live near Tita- he says. Now they live in the same house, and mother Elena cannot forbid their love as she did their marriage.

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Plot Keywords:

mexico | marriage | love | nudity | pubic hair | 

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Taglines:

A feast for the senses!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

28 May 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aci Çikolata

Filming Locations:

Ciudad Acuña, Coahuíla, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$23,600, 21 February 1993

Gross USA:

$21,665,468

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,744,201

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arau Films Internacional, Aviacsa, Cinevista

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 113 min (R Rated NTSC Version)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

An aspiring filmmaker from Texas, who was not involved with the project, spent time on set, because he was in town shooting a small budget ($5,000) full-length feature film for the Spanish home video market. That young filmmaker was Robert Rodriguez, and the film was El Mariachi, which became a hit at Sundance and launched his career.

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Goofs

Reflected in a window during a dolly shot as Tita leaves the table while everyone eats their cake.

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Quotes

Gertrudis: Sergeant, can you cook cream fritters?
Sargento Treviño: To be honest ... no. But if you want, I will try.
Gertrudis: You have never let me down before. I hope this will not be the first time.
Sargento Treviño: Yes, my general.

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Alternate Versions

Also, there was an European cut that is very similar to the international version because it was already color-corrected, but some scenes are extended. This European cut includes sex & nudity scenes.

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Connections

Referenced in The Lone Gunmen: Like Water for Octane (2001)

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Soundtracks

Jesusita en Chihuahua
Written by Quirino Mendoza
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User Reviews

The movie was extremely dull compared to the book.

I personally think that a movie was very dull, and did not meet the standards that were set by the book. When making this movie I thought that left out many of the important details that were in the book, for example the importance of food which was hardly shown throughout the film. Not one of he recipes were ever said which just made Tita's work seem like mindless acts, and never showed the love that was put into creating each one of the meals. This made the movie seem choppy which made each scene that they showed very short and incomplete. Also it was hard to picture many of the parts because where they supposedly using magical realism just didn't work. By reading this book you get a much better sense of what their family lifestyle was like, and how important food actually was to the family, then watching it on film. After watching this movie i would definitely choose reading the book.