Feature film
Like Water for Chocolate
Como agua para chocolate
Alfonso Arau · 1992
Synopsis
In Mexico at the beginning of the twentieth century, during the revolution, Tita, the youngest daughter of the tyrannical Mamá Elena, is bound by tradition to remain unmarried and look after her mother. Pedro, who loves her, marries her elder sister to stay close to her. Tita finds fulfilment in the kitchen, where she learns the secrets of recipes; her emotions pass into her dishes and affect those who eat them.
Context
Laura Esquivel, then the director's wife, adapts her own novel. Shot in Ciudad Acuña and Piedras Negras, in Coahuila, photographed by Emmanuel Lubezki and Steve Bernstein, to music by Leo Brouwer, the film brings together Lumi Cavazos (Tita), Marco Leonardi (Pedro), Regina Torné (Mamá Elena) and Mario Iván Martínez. It was released in Mexico on 16 April 1992 and was nominated for the Golden Globe for foreign-language film.
Who it is for
A two-hour melodrama in Spanish, easy to follow; released in France under the title Les Épices de la passion.
Prizes and reception
About ten Ariel Awards, including best film; the most commercially successful foreign-language film in the United States at the time.
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