Like Water for Chocolate

Director: Alfonso Arau
Screenwriters: Laura Esquivel

Institute History

  • 1993 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Like Water like Chocolate, a melodrama based on screenwriter Laura Esquivel's first novel, is a luscious testimony to hunger, in terms of love and food. In this fascinating story of unrequited love, food is both a means of imprisonment and an erotic magic wand.

In 1910 during the Mexican revolution on the Texas-Mexican border, Tita is the youngest of three daughters of a stern and bitter matriarch. Tita and Pedro wish to be married, but tradition rules that the youngest must cook and care for her mother. To remain close to Tita, Pedro marries her sister, but Tita's mother spitefully banishes the couple.

The phrase, 'como agua para chocolate’ refers to the Aztec process where the richest chocolate is made by throwing beans into furiously boiling water. Tita's frustration practically boils over, but she channels her emotions into her cooking and creates a brilliant array of magical food, including Cornish hens which drive her other sister into the arms of her lover. Through her food Tita develops a sensual, desperate relationship with Pedro which finally draws them explosively together.



Saturday Jan 24 6:00 pm
Prospector Square Theatre

Friday Jan 29 6:00 pm
Tower Theatre, Salt Lake City

Saturday Jan 30 7:00 pm
Egyptian Theatre

$6.00

— Catherine Schulman

Screening Details

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]