Like Water for Chocolate is a 1992 film in the style of magical realism based on the popular novel, published in 1989 by first-time Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel. It earned all 11 Ariel awards of the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures, including the Ariel Award for Best Picture, and became the highest grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the United States at the time. Early in "Like Water for Chocolate", the audience learns that the protagonist, Tita, is forbidden to marry because of a family tradition. Therefore, when the boy she has been flirting with, Pedro, and his father... come to ask for Tita’s hand in marriage, Tita's mother, Mama Elena, refuses. Mama Elena offers her other daughter, Rosaura, and Pedro accepts in order to be closer to Tita. Tita bakes the wedding cake with tears causing vomiting, crying, and a longing for their true love in all those who eat it. Mama Elena goes to look at a photo of a man who is later revealed to be her other daughter Gertrudis's true father, news which kills Mama Elena's husband. A year passes and Tita puts her feelings for Pedro in a meal of rose petals. Tita's heat and passion transfers to Gertrudis upon eating the meal.
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