LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
A film review by Lons Ponschock
Copyright 1995 Lons Ponschock
A film by Alfonso Arau >From the novel by Laura Esquivel Stars Marco Leonardi and Lumi Cavazos
"Weeping was the first symptom
of a strange intoxication. A
sense of melancholy and frustration
overtook all the guests (of the
wedding) making them take refuge in the
patio and the barns and bathrooms
as they yearned for "the love of their
lives."
-- from LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE --
Here is a romance which is bittersweet like the chocolate mentioned in the title. The title refers to the emotions one feels during the film. It's a romance you know, and you are supposed to become excited by it ... hot ... Like Water for Chocolate.
It is the story of Pedro and Tita and Tita's mother. Tita is the last born so she must care for her mother until her mother no longer lives. She cannot marry Pedro for this reason and therein lies the story of the film.
More and more I see less and less in American releases ... the fineness and rhythm of language are just not there ... there is nothing to learn from the experience and the viewer does not touch *humanity*.
In LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE we *do* touch this humanity and this is why it is a special film. It is in Spanish and subtitled. And in this particular film the English goes by quite quickly. This is the first time I have rerun the film to catch all the dialog. And only in works by such masters as Wim Wenders can the art of language be compared. So take some time with this one. It's worth it.
I was reminded of a previous film which I wrote about more than a year ago. What is said of Babette in BABETTE'S FEAST could apply to Tita in the current film as well:
"...This woman, this head chef had the ability
to transform a dinner into a kind of love
affair... a love affair that made no
distinction between bodily appetite and
spiritual appetite."
-- from BABETTE'S FEAST --
(There are so many similarities between BABETTE'S FEAST and LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE that I have reprinted the previous item so that the reader might know more about BABETTE. See the item which follows. It is not written to the same style ... but then again, I rarely write to the same style or the same reference.)
* * * * *
I have seen a number of romances lately: ROBIN AND MARIAN was one such. I did not post a review of that because, well it's an old picture from the 1970s directed by a master. Richard Lester has directed some high comedy such as the early Beatles films and HOW I WON THE WAR starring John Lennon. But ROBIN AND MARIAN, while touching, fell prey to the cliches which have been exposed by John Cleese, Graham Chapman and the rest of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
So I did not comment on ROBIN AND MARIAN. It was unintentionally humorous.
But here in LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, the proper amount of the willing suspension of disbelief: that quality which one needs to view a work of the imagination to find the truth therein ... with enough of that, this film can be a grand experience indeed.
Perhaps I am getting soft. Perhaps I am getting old. Perhaps I am getting old and soft, but I enjoyed LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE immensely. Maybe it is because I learned that I was still able to cry myself. There is great sadness and great happiness in the film. But to choose which was in greater supply I would have to say sadness even if, in so doing, this skews the idea of what a good romance should be.
We have spoken of good double bills in the past (and I'd like to see some new recommendations too.) So here I would recommend LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE and BABETTE'S FEAST to be viewed as a double bill. Get both of them together and enjoy the rich experience; that satiation which only food and romance can provide. To have one without the other puts me in mind of a closing quote taken from LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE:
"The trouble with crying
while chopping onions
isn't the crying,
it's that sometimes you can't stop."
* * * * *
-- lon
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