It will be a great day, sweetheart.
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE
I'm doing what must be done, right?
If it comes from your heart,
then you're doing what must be done.
Giddy up!
Grace will tell you when to bring the rings.
-Okay? -Yes, Dad.
Very well.
Dad said you'd tell me when to bring the rings.
-Right. -But how am I supposed to...?
I'll say when, don't worry.
Here comes the bride!
Do I look okay?
She looks like a princess!
Thank you, Delfino.
Thank you.
Would you help me, Delfino?
Thank you.
Welcome, brothers.
May the Almighty's blessing
be upon you.
The Lord God said,
"It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."
You're not marrying this woman
out of an impure desire,
but with the best intentions.
God Almighty,
give us your mercy
and let us be together in your kingdom,
all of us at the same time.
This is the word of the Lord.
-We praise You, Lord. -We praise You, Lord.
Let's stand up.
We're here, at the altar,
because God, infinitely glorious,
will guarantee your will to enter into this marriage.
Face each other.
Look at each other.
Now, the question is...
Are you here
under no pressure,
free and willingly?
Yes, Father.
Willingly.
Are you determined to love and to respect each other
and to live in matrimony for the rest of your lives?
Are you determined to love and to respect each other
and to live in matrimony for the rest of your lives?
I'm sorry.
I can't.
No...
What happened?
Pedro...
Careful, Miss.
Thank you, Delfino.
Tita!
Where is she?
-What's wrong? -Tita!
Rosaura!
You knew it, right?
You told her to leave, right?
-I don't... Calm down... -What did you do? Let me go!
Rosaura, please, you must calm down.
You're back.
Rosaura.
What happened?
Where did you go?
We have to talk.
No.
Don't say it, I don't want to hear you.
I'm leaving with Tita.
We can't go on living like this.
No, that will never happen.
Haven't we both suffered enough?
If you hadn't accepted my mother's agreement,
nobody would be suffering.
I didn't cheat on anybody!
I married you because I loved you!
I will never love you.
I know.
I know that.
I don't even care.
Like it or not, I'll be by your side until I die.
We still have time.
You could be happy too.
I'll never be happy.
I won't allow you or Tita to be happy.
If you leave this house, you'll never see Esperanza again.
You've already lost a son.
Do you want to lose her too?
Are you two leaving?
And where will you live?
Right now, I don't know a thing.
What matters is that I did what I had to do.
I knew you weren't sure.
It took me too long to decide.
Marrying the doctor was your duty.
All you had to do was that!
Duty, tradition, good manners. You sound exactly like Mom.
None of that matters, when will you ever realize?
Don't hit her!
If Mom were here, none of this would have happened.
You would have obeyed her!
She lied to us. She was forced to get married.
She loved another man.
That's not true.
So much for your good manners.
It's a lie, you're both crazy.
You're trying to hurt me! All my life you've been against me!
You only care about appearances!
You never cared about us!
Get the hell out of my house once and for all, damn it!
Once you and Pedro decide what to do, let me know.
Take care.
I love you.
If Juan doesn't show up, I'll grab him by the ear and take him to you!
Grab his balls!
John.
Why are you here?
I wanted to say goodbye.
It's for you.
It was your wedding gift.
We all have an inner box of matches.
All we have to do is find a detonator.
The legend says more.
We must be careful
and light one match at a time.
Otherwise, if emotion is very intense,
and all matches are lit,
the flame would burn forever.
I didn't mean to hurt you.
I know.
If you want an explanation, I won't do that, not today anyway.
No.
I can't stand being away from you two.
Now he is your son.
I'm an asshole.
Yes, right, an asshole.
Forgive me.
And?
You didn't cheat on me.
You're trustworthy, Gertrudis.
And?
Anything else to say?
I was overwhelmed with jealousy.
I was an asshole.
I really got upset because I thought that...
that you loved someone else.
And?
Forgive me.
I miss you so much.
Forgive me.
Gertrudis.
Are you coming or what?
Would you take him to bed?
What do you want?
I won't have more children.
Esperanza will stay with me until I die.
Don't you realize how harmful that tradition has been?
It's the only thing I have.
Esperanza has the right to live the life she wants.
I'm willing to accept that.
But don't take her father away from her.
Go far away
and never come back.
I've missed you.
I've missed you more.
Keep it in a safe place.
Someday, our Josecito will see it.
Yes.
I must go back.
I'm sure there's another way to change things.
You wanted to fight like me.
What happened?
Well, we have a son now.
Yes, that's true.
But I can't walk out on my men.
I can't just vanish into thin air.
I'm not a deserter.
Of course not.
You're not. I know that.
But José needs you.
Then let's go.
You won't abandon your ideas, and I won't abandon mine either.
I have no option.
What do you really want?
I want you to take care of yourself.
I'll come back for you two.
I swear.
Here you are.
Are you ready?
Yes.
What's wrong?
It's been a very long day.
It was wonderful.
Good night.
Pedro,
I'm writing this letter
because I'm not brave enough to look at you and say goodbye.
I've accepted Rosaura's deal,
and I'm leaving for good.
If we stay together,
be it here or somewhere else,
Rosaura won't allow you to see Esperanza again.
What's even worse, she'll condemn her to undergo
the same absurd tradition that ruined my life.
I won't allow that to happen.
That tradition will die with me.
Take care of Esperanza.
I'll take care of her during summer.
I'm sure that
both you and I
will help her become a free woman.
Today I'm giving up on happiness
so that Esperanza can be happy.
I'm also giving up on you
and I'll go after my freedom.
Please...
never doubt my love for you.
We've been loving each other from a distance since our childhood.
I think it will be better for everyone if things remain like this.
Goodbye, Pedro.
That day, the life of the De la Garza women changed for good.
While Tita fought an inner revolution,
the rebels,
despite getting weaker and weaker,
kept fighting too.
Gertrudis! A horseman!
Who is he?
-Help me. -Give him to me.
I'll take care of him. Go ahead, run!
Time went by,
and Rosaura kept her word.
She took Esperanza to Tita each summer.
Be careful.
Hi, Esperanza!
Hi, Aunt Tita!
Come on in. Want some help?
Tita also fulfilled the agreement.
She never ever went after Pedro.
In exchange, she saw Esperanza grow.
Eventually,
Tita found the peace she'd been longing for so long.
She lead a quiet life,
what with knitting,
cooking,
and her next chance of spending time with Esperanza.
And, like Nacha had done with her,
Tita taught Esperanza all her cooking secrets.
And this herb with a particular smell is...
It's a herb...?
It's mint!
Right, mint!
Make thinner slices so that cooking them is easier.
Pedro never was on intimate terms with Rosaura again.
He was an exemplary father.
He devoted body and soul to this daughter
and to fight for the rights of the underprivileged people.
As a landowner, he promoted the creation of laws
to improve people's working conditions in the country.
Safe travels, honey.
Thank you, Aunt.
Don't take long to return.
Time continued to pass.
I guess that, in the meantime,
Tita and Pedro never stopped thinking about each other.
Deep down, they knew that being away from each other
was the best for everybody.
And Esperanza?
Where is my daughter?
I don't know.
Esperanza!
We have guests.
I'm coming, Mom.
Bye, Alex.
Bye.
Bye, madam.
What were you doing with Dr. Brown's son?
I don't think a young lady should behave like that.
Besides, I don't feel well.
I need you to take care of me.
Rosaura's pain was getting worse.
Pedro's rejection,
her secret desire to prevent Esperanza from finding love,
and all the bitterness she'd been keeping in her heart
made her rot inside
little by little.
Mom!
What happened, Mom?
Mom!
Mommy, Mommy...
She's dead.
After Rosaura's death,
Esperanza asked Tita to help her cook for an upcoming event.
Tita accepted
because she knew that Pedro would be busy in town.
Getting back to the ranch
brought painful moments back to Tita's memory.
It also awoke beautiful memories that had been dormant for a long time.
That day they cooked chiles in walnut sauce,
the dish with which
Mexico's independence is traditionally celebrated.
It is said that if the chiles are properly cooked,
they may light the soul of any person who tries them.
Preparing this dish with Esperanza
in the kitchen where she was born,
where she grew up and learned so many things,
moved Tita very deeply.
And then,
she felt a strong sense of freedom grow within her
and again, this feeling spread into all of the food she touched.
CHILES IN WALNUT SAUCE
Dad!
Let me introduce you to some friends.
-Come here. -Okay.
How are you?
-This is Beto. -Hi.
-Hi! -And his wife.
How do you do?
I thank life
for making our paths cross long ago.
Today I want to toast
to you,
my beautiful Esperanza.
And to all of you as well!
Cheers!
-Cheers! -I want to speak too!
And before we start eating!
That is...
if I'm not overcome with emotion.
I want to thank my father,
my mother,
my dear father-in-law,
and you, Alex,
for making me the happiest woman in the world.
I also
want to say thanks to a great person.
This person has taught me and shown me
that I can achieve whatever I want in life,
that there are no limits,
and that freedom isn't a gift,
you have to fight for it every single day.
I know that today I'm here...
thanks to you,
Tita.
I'm so happy to have you near me.
To be honest,
you've been like a second mother to me.
Cheers!
-Cheers. -Bravo!
Son.
-Who's that? -No idea.
-Did you invite them? -Isn't that Josecito?
It's Aunt Gertrudis.
It's my aunt!
Sister!
You all look beautiful!
Fina!
Hi!
-Nice to meet you, I'm Tita. -Nice to meet you.
José, you're so big!
I'm so glad I've finally met you.
Come, meet my family.
Thank you very much.
This dish is so delicious!
This is so tender!
No, it's Tita De la Garza!
In the blink of an eye,
the chiles disappeared from the trays.
Guests savored them with pleasure.
And while they were at it, one by one,
they allowed themselves to feel the freedom
with which Tita had cooked that dish.
-Leo! -Yes, sir?
-Play another song! -Okay!
Bravo!
Son!
Only after 20 years
Pedro and Tita finally felt free to be together.
They had been waiting for this moment their whole life.
That day,
their love challenged the passage of time.
The desire, after so many years,
the endless waiting,
the intensity of such reunion.
There were so many feelings,
there was so much love in that union
that all the matches they had within
lit at the same time.
A long time ago,
I learned that stories are not entirely true or false,
because they're nurtured with half-truths,
with well told lies,
or with blurred memories.
Memories...
that get lost in smoking fires
or that get imbued with the smell of spices,
and, like in any recipe,
they get mixed like any other ingredient.
This is the story
of Tita, my great-great aunt,
of Esperanza, my great-grandmother, who rescued her book of recipes,
and of each and every other De la Garza women that came after them.
A story that, whether it may be true or false,
reminds us that we women are the owners of our destiny.
A story that will continue to exist
as long as there is someone
who cooks its recipes.