Film Adaptations Over Coffee : Like Water For Chocolate

Earlier this year I discovered the magic that is Laura Esquival’s Like Water For Chocolate and was absolutely in love with the writing. The story follows Tita, as the youngest of three daughters she is destined to never marry and take care of her mother until the day she dies. This of course puts a dent in Tita’s and Pedro’s plan who have loved each other their entire lives and want to marry. When Tita’s mother vehemently denies their request to marry and offers her older daughter instead, Pedro accepts thinking its the only way to keep Tita in his life. The rest of the story follows the complicated life and choices that Tita takes throughout her life and the magic she discovers in her cooking. Tita has the ability to transfer her emotions into her food, making those who eat it feel what she feels.

The book took me through an amazing journey of food, its ability to heal, family dynamics/traditions and the power of human emotions. This story is one that I immensely enjoyed and actually rejuvenated my love for cooking. The book is not without faults and I have issues with some of the choices that Tita makes but that’s just on me and not on the book or author themselves. Once I was done reading I knew I had to watch the movie adaption to see if it carried the same magical realism that the book presented.

And let me tell you that I enjoyed it but didn’t love it.

Let me preface and let you know that this movie was made in 1992 and it does omit a lot of scenes but it was necessary seeing how it is already almost two hours long. The pacing between certain scenes also seems a bit off and choppy because of that omission. My biggest gripe is that the book has 12 recipes, one per chapter/major event in Tita’s life but the movie only has about three or four in it. Then there was Tita’s ability to transfer her emotions into the food she cooks. I knew that it would be hard to capture such a thing on film and the first time it happens it has be spelled out for the viewers, the next couple of times you actually need to be paying attention to catch it but it also doesn’t play a big role in the movie as it did in the book.

The movie, while it remains faithful to the parts of the book it kept, misses a lot of scenes from the book. Scenes that explained a lot things that the movie left unspoken, her family’s history, the slow descendant of her sisters health, the secret that her mother kept, there are a lot things that you would miss had you not read the book. It felt like a visual cliff notes version of the book.

If you feel so inclined you can give the movie a go as it is available on Netflix. Trigger warning for rape, child death, nudity, fire ( those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head but if there are more to add on this list please let me know ). But in my opinion read the book.