21 - Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate, 1993), Directed by Alfonso Arau, Based on the Novel of the Same Name by Laura Esquivel

Summary

Main Cast

Tita, played by Lumi Cavazos

Doña María Elena, played by Regina Tome

Pedro Muzquiz, played by Rodolfo Arias

Chencha, played by Pilar Aranda

John, played by Mario Iván Martínez

Crew

Screenplay: Laura Esquivel

Music: Leo Brower

Setting: Denisse Pizzini, Marco Antonio Arteaga, and Mauricio Aguinaco

Editing: Carlos Bolado, Francisco Chiu

Photography: Emmanuel Lubeski, Steve Berstein

Producer: Alfonso Arau

Director: Alfonso Arau

Awards

Winner, eleven awards (all categories), Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures, 1993

Nominee, Golden Globe, 1993

Nominee, British Academy Award, 1993

Plot

Esperanza, Tita’s niece, recalls the birth of her aunt, Tita, to doña Elena on the kitchen table in Rio Grande in 1895. Doña Elena’s husband, Juan, dies of a heart attack when he discovers his daughter, Gertrudis, is not really his. Pedro Muzquiz asks to marry Tita but doña Elena refuses, and offers him her older sister, Rosaura, whom he accepts. Tita’s tears fall into the batter of the wedding cake, and Pedro and Rosaura’s wedding ends in chaos, tears and mass vomiting. Gertrudis runs off with a villista during the Mexican Revolution. Rosaura gives birth to a child, Roberto. A North-American doctor, Dr John Brown, falls in love with Tita and offers her marriage. Rosaura and Pedro go to San Antonio where the child dies. Tita is nursed back to health by Chencha. Tita accepts Dr Brown’s offer of marriage. Back in Mexico Chencha is raped by some revolutionaries and doña Elena is killed. Rosaura has a second child, Esperanza (the narrator). Pedro and Tita become amorous. Doña Elena’s ghost comes back and curses her. Pedro is severely burnt out of doña Elena’s desire for revenge from beyond the grave. Tita and Rosaura argue about Pedro. 1934: Esperanza, Rosaura’s daughter, is getting married to Alex Brown, Dr Brown’s son. Flashback to Rosaura’s gruesome death (by flatulence). Pedro and Tita finally consummate their love. Pedro dies, and the bedroom explodes into flames. Esperanza explains how the story of her aunt’s love was found among the ashes.

Analytical Overview: The Novel

Set on an isolated ranch in northern Mexico near the Texas border, Like Water for Chocolate (1989, trans. 1993), has the Mexican Revolution (1911–1919) as the main historical backdrop to the story.