CathyMatthews Like Water for Chocolate

There was so much going on in this movie, it's hard to pick a discussion topic. The mother Madame Elena was quite the witch. She was so proper in front of guests but so very strict and uncaring with her children and workers. She pretty much gave Tita to Nacha and then became upset when they were bonding. Rosaura was like her mother, very cold and selfish, not like her sisters Tita and Gertrudis. The tradition of the youngest daughter not being able to marry and being "sentenced" to care for the mother until death was crazy to me. Is this a real tradition or just for this family? Why not let Tita get married and still live in the same house or at least close by. I feel like the mother was very jealous of Tita, who was pretty and well liked. I loved Gertrudis' spirit the most. She was so wild and carefree. She was the happiest of them all because she was free of her mother's rules. Yet she became a general and was a leader of men.

The magic realism was apparent in several scenes. The kitchen is one where Nacha first exposed Tita to food and it's magic, saying she would have all the boys looking at her. Also when they were making the wedding cake and Tita cried in the batter causing those who ate it to be sent into an emotional tailspin and made them sick.
When Pedro gave Tita the roses and she made the sauce with them, she put a "spell" on it so those who ate it would become aroused. Even those who could smell the sauce from far away became aroused. That is how Gertrudis met her future husband! It was a very sensual but funny scene.
Tita also dreams of having Pedro, but knows she can't because he is married to her sister. However, in reality she settles for having him whenever she can.
Tita becomes close to her niece and helps her to break the tradition of caring for her mother and not being able to marry. In the end, Esparanza marries and when Tita makes the cake another "spell" makes those who eat it become aroused and run off with a partner to have sex! What a funny ending to a delightful film!