Como agua para chocolate (1992)

Director:

Alfonso Arau

Writers:

Laura Esquivel (novel)
Laura Esquivel (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 February 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A feast for the senses!

Plot:

This movie is about how life used to be in Mexico. It is a love story between Pedro and Tita, and why...

Plot Keywords:

Magic Realism | Food As Sex Metaphor | Gourmet | Male Frontal Nudity | Mother Daughter Conflict

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 21 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Like Water for Chocolate

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish | English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Ciudad Acuña, Coahuíla, Mexico

Company:

Arau Films Internacional

Trivia:

An aspiring filmmaker from Texas, who was not involved with the project, was able to spend 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 would go on to become a hit at Sundance and launch his career.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Background music while Tita and Nacha are cooking in the kitchen tells the story of a car breakdown.

Quotes:

Gertrudis: If you were still in love with Pedro, you wouldn't be marrying John.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Lone Gunmen: Like Water for Octane (#1.4)" (2001)

A deeply moving and sensuous tale of forbidden love...

I saw Como agua para chocolate partway through on the spanish channel and was immediately entranced by it's raw beauty and emotion.Thank God for those subtitles or I would have moved on. It's a tale of old traditions in Mexico and Tita, the youngest daughter, is the one doomed to follow them.The tradition is that the youngest is to stay with her mother and take care of her and remain single the rest of her life while her oldest sister gets to marry. For Tita though, it's too much for her to bear having fallen in love with Pedro, the one that her sister is to marry. Later he admits to Tita that he only married her sister to be near her.The rest of the story is for you to uncover.

I have never seen a more romantic scene in any movie where Gertrudis runs from the burning shower down the road and is swept into the arms of her lover and carried away. It's a stunningly sensual film that is deeply moving. If you haven't seen it, watch it with a lover.That only adds to the romance of the story!