Like Water for Chocolate

Amazon.com essential video

Expect to be very hungry (and perhaps amorous) after watching this contemporary classic in the small genre of food movies that includes Babette's Feast and Big Night. Director Alfonso Arau (A Walk in the Clouds), adapting a novel by his former wife, Laura Esquivel, tells the story of a young woman (Lumi Cavazos) who learns to suppress her passions under the eye of a stern mother, but channels them into her cooking. The result is a steady stream of cuisine so delicious as to be an almost erotic experience for those lucky enough to have a bite. The film's quotient of magic realism feels a little stock, but the story line is good and Arau's affinity for the sensuality of food (and of nature) is sublime. You might want to rush off to a good Mexican restaurant afterward, but that's a good thing. --Tom Keogh

Description

Based on the best-selling book -- now experience for yourself the erotic tale of forbidden love that seduced both critics and audiences nationwide! Tita and Pedro are passionately in love. But their love is forbidden by an ancient family tradition. To be near Tita, Pedro marries her sister. And Tita, as the family cook, expresses her passion for Pedro through preparing delectable dishes. Now, in Tita's kitchen, ordinary spices become a recipe for passion. Her creations bring on tears of longing, heated desire, or chronic pain -- while Tita and Pedro wait for the moment to fulfill their most hidden pleasures!

Customer Reviews:

Sorry I bought this.......2007-09-15

This is one of the best movies ever made. It is about food. Food and cooking are the heart of this movie and the cooking has been cut on this DVD.

A must have for all you foreign film lovers!.......2007-09-12

If you like foreign films, you must have this one in your collection! I've been looking anywhere videos are sold in stores for this one for years and only found it on Amazon. I've tried to rent it in multiple Blockbusters, but they never have it. I've looked in used video/book stores as well, trust me this one's not easy to find! I've read the book and the movie is no dissapointment, it's just like I had envisioned while reading. Laura Esquiville is an amazing writer. She brings magic and passion to what would seem a mundane world. It is my favorite book and movie of all time!

Beautiful film - abhorrent DVD.......2007-08-31

WHY is this film being sold in an edited version????? Where is the original 144 minute theatrical release?!

Bad Disney! Bad!!

Cooking to unlock sexual frustration!.......2007-08-04

A friend of mine from El Paso,Texas says that the title of this film COMO AGUA PARA CHOCOLATE is a phrase that denotes sexual frustration.If that is so, then this film does speak about that! Everyone in this film set in Mexico in 1910 is sexually frustrated.Everyone has settled for the wrong person either by choice or by circumstance.Everyone has done the obedient thing,but not what they really wanted.That said, this film needs absolutely no explanation.Everything is viewed through the lens of sexual frustration.Whether it be Tita and Pedro,or the mother and her lost lover,or the sister and her emotionally unavailable husband,everyone is missing the magic ingredient that ignites passion and love.This film is genius.It is one big metaphor.Why 4 stars? Parts of the movie seem as if something has been edited away causing a lot of filling in the blanks.This review is from the 105 minute vhs version.The dvd is the same.So what is missing?
Excellent companion films would be VATEL,BABETTE'S FEAST and CHOCOLAT.

Like Water for Chocolate.......2007-07-28

Tita and Pedro's love for each other winds its way through this lovely movie, being expressed through Tita's improving gourmet abilities. The effect of her food on each of its recipients expresses itself in different ways, for Tita it expresses her love for Pedro and in others it creats passion,desire or pain. Pedro marries her sister so her can remain near Tita without raising the ire of her protective mother and cultural taboos. A beautifully shot film deserving a 4 star rating. Definitely a "chick flick".

Miramax Inspired Romance Collection (Amelie/Like Water for Chocolate/Il Postino/Chocolat)

Average customer rating:

Hours of European Classics
...The ULTIMATE collectors pack...
Amelie
Eclectic collection of "Inspired Romance"

Miramax Inspired Romance Collection (Amelie/Like Water for Chocolate/Il Postino/Chocolat)
Starring: Juliette Binoche , Alfred Molina , Carrie-Anne Moss , Judi Dench , and Antonio Gil-Martinez
Director: Lasse Hallström , Alfonso Arau , and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000AGQ61
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Description

This four-movie collectible set includes widescreen versions of AMELIE, CHOCOLAT, IL POSTINO, and LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE. CLICK ON INDIVIDUAL TITLES BELOW FOR PRODUCT DETAILS.

Customer Reviews:

Hours of European Classics.......2006-11-10

This is a great set of films that will have you watching them over and over.

...The ULTIMATE collectors pack..........2006-02-18

Amelie and Chocolat..together...in a box set!!!!! well thats a must buy if ever there was one!!! Amelie is my fave movie of all time, it touched me, it moved me and its just like its main star...beautiful, scrumptious and likable!!! Amelie is a little french waitress...who after finding a chldhood treasure of a man who once lived in her apartment, she seeks out on being a regula dogooder, making couples fall in love, finding ways to make those who mourn, be comforted, punishing hose who are mean...all whilst neglecting her own love life...Chocolate, Johnny Depp, and Judie Dench in a film...sounds good to me. Chocolat is about a wman and her child who move into a religious and spirtiual community and who dont fit in with the social order of the town..but you must always have faith in yourself even if ppl dont have faith in u!!! IlPostiniooooooooo...so poetic and touching...wow...like water for chocolate is beautiful definitely for those who appreciate sweet romance...

Chocolat and Like Water....like its name...sweet and fluffy and sugar coated fun for the whole family
Amelie and IlPostino...smart and touching, poetic and stunning

BUY IT NOW!!!!!! ps: hi alex!!! hermy...

Amelie.......2004-05-18

An amazingly refreshing work of art. This creature is not only tintillating due to her own sneaky intentions, however she is quite jovial in her pursuits of happiness for herself and others. An amazing movie, please send more over to America!

Eclectic collection of "Inspired Romance".......2004-05-07

Romantic movies somehow seem a lot sweeter when they don't fit the usual boy-meets-girl mold. Four such movies make up the Miramax Inspired Romance Collection, four romantic movies that will make you want to cuddle up under a blanket (even the somewhat silly "Chocolat").

"Amelie" is the charming tale of a young French woman (Audrey Tautou), secluded and shy. But when she returns a childhood toy to a man, changing his lonely life, Amelie decides to keep doing good for others to improve their lives. But one of her deeds leads her to a handsome young man who may be her soulmate.... if Amelie can learn to help herself out too.

Sensuous, passionate "Like Water For Chocolate" introduces us to Tita (Lumi Cavazos) and Pedro (Marco Leonardi), young Mexican lovers who desperately want to get married. But Tita's domineering mother is determined to keep Tita single because of a mindless tradition. Pedro ends up marrying Tita's sister, and the heartbroken Tita is lost in her grief... only to have some very unpredictable things happen.

"Il Postino" is the way to love, when an exiled Chilean poet (Philippe Noiret) settles on a small Italian island. He befriends a poorly-educated young fisherman, Mario (Massimo Troisi), who is given the duty of delivering the newly-enlarged mail inflow. When Mario falls in love with the beautiful Beatrice, he needs the poet's help -- and the power of poetry -- to win her heart.

"Chocolat" celebrates joie de vivre, with big sides of chocolate (warning: Do not watch on an empty stomach). Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter move into a small French town and set up a chocolate shop just at the start of Lent. What's more, Vianne strikes up a romance with a local drifter (Johnny Depp). The mayor is deeply ticked off by this, but as Vianne starts to improve their lives, the townspeople start warming up to her.

This collection is a pretty wide-ranging one. Some have the happy endings you'd expect, some turn out in ways you would never dream of. Okay, "Chocolat" is a bit silly even for magical realism; what keeps it from being absurd are the wonderful performances of Depp and Binoche. But these films have all kinds of romance -- the sparkling surrealism of "Amelie," the stomach-tingling heaps of chocolate, the sweet lyricism of poetry, and the sexy, sensuous "Like Water."

Basically, the "Inspired Romance Collection" is a must-have for movie-loving romantics. Sweet, sexy, sparkling and may leave you feeling hungry for candy. A solid, beautiful collection.

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