This film describes when Pedro and Tita fall in love as children. Tita is the youngest girl of Mother Elena. Tradition stated that the youngest girl is never to marry. She is to care for her mother until she dies. When Pedro comes of age, he and his father ask Elena for Tita's hand in marriage, but the request is refused. Elena offers her oldest daughter, Rosaura, to Pedro. Pedro accepts the offer to marry Rosaura knowing this would be the only way he could be close to his true love, Tita.
Elena is an emotional harsh, cold woman and mother. She almost never shows any gentle emotion with her children. Tears were not allowed in her house. She was exceptionally harsh to Tita. Elena demanded no tears from Tita at her sister's wedding. As punishment Tita was to prepare the wedding banquet. After eating the wedding cake, made under a magic spell of intoxication, the guest were overcome with yearning for the their true love. Pedro used this spell to refuse to have sexual relations with his new wife until the "intoxication" wore off. He finally sleeps with his wife and prays to God that is was only for reproducing.
As the film progresses, Tita and Pedro find other forms of communication to express the forbidden love. Pedro brings roses to Tita on the year anniversary of her becoming chef. Tita is order by her mother to throw the roses out. Instead Tita prepares a meal of quail in rose sauce. The rose sauce is made with the purest true love and when eaten at dinner, everyone is overtaken by an incredible passion.
Pedro and Rosaura have a son together but Rosaura is not able to feed him. Tita secretly nurses him and cares for the child as if he were her own. Tita's mother is always on careful watch of Tita and Pedro. She suspects that they are involved and sends Pedro, Rosaura and the baby away to live with family in Texas. The child later dies because he would not eat. Tita blames her mother for the death of the child and for the first time in her life Tita stands up to her controlling mother once again breaking tradition. Tita retreats into herself as she mourns the love for Pedro and the death of the child. This is when Dr. Brown takes Tita with him and cares for her. He is gentle and kind and only cares for what is best for Tita.
Dr. Brown comes from a more modern world. He explains a story that his native American grandmother had told him as a child. "Each of us is born with a book of matches inside us but we can not strike the matched all by ourselves, we need oxygen and a candle to help. The oxygen being the breath of a person's love and the candle being a whatever triggers the candle to ignite; food, music, a caress, a word or sound." The warning came when Br. Brown explained that all the internal matches could not be ignited all at once or the extreme emotion could cause the person to return to the place in which the emotion came from originally.
Dr. Brown falls in love with Tita and the two become involved. Tita is torn between the forbidden love for Pedro and the peace and safety she feels for Dr. Brown. The film unfolds, Pedro and Rosaura have another child. A daughter, Esperanza and Rosaura intended to carry on the family tradition of the youngest girl not marrying and caring for her mother until she dies. Tita is angry at this. She states, "I am boiling mad". "This tradition stops with me".
Tita refuses to marry Dr. Brown and Rosaura dies of a digestive disorder. 20 years later at Esperanza's wedding Pedro professes his love for Tita again. The final scene ends with Pedro carrying Tita to a candle lit barn. The two make love and the emotion of Pedro's matches being lit all at the same time causes his death. Tita is devastated by the death of her love, Pedro. She eats a book of matches and dies in the arms of Pedro while the intense emotion causes the barn to burn to the ground. Thus the two lovers were joined in death.
Magic realism was apparent in this film in that Pedro and Tita had a forbidden love from the beginning. They both wanted what could never be. Tita had stated in the film that she was more desirable because she was something that could not be touched. If the two had been able to break tradition and be together as lovers from the beginning, then the emotions and passions of that which is forbidden couldn't have come into play.
The magic realism is what makes this movie. If the love of Tita and Pedro had not been forbidden from the beginning, the story would not have been so exciting. The Quail in rose petal sauce wouldn't have been half as sensual as it was if it hadn't caused the feelings it did between Pedro and Tita. It was the fact that Pedro gave them to Tita in a gesture that not only symbolized his love, but at the same time was only given to congratulate Tita for her accomplishment of being the ranch chef for one year. This also caused Gertrudis to be consumed by passion and run off with the man who presumably became her husband. What a great scene. This was definetly magical realism. I was somewhat disappointed when Tita and Pedro headed toward the barn in the end until the door was opened and the candles were everywhere. It was so beautiful, like something out of a fairy tale. But everyone should know candles are never a good idea in a barn!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things that are disturbing about the film. I agree with you about Elena and her not showing any gentle emotions with her children. I cannot imagine growing up in a family like that. I know it is difficult being a single parent and to raise a family, but you would think there would be more love.
ReplyDeleteYou blame the mother for Roberto's death, in which I partly do. The blame comes from the origin of the "family tradition". Who ever came up with the youngest daughter not being allowed to marry and care for an aging mother. What if there weren't any daughters born? Seems also very selfish of Elena, I mean she once had love and romance. I don't think this was their culture, just the family tradition, if there really was this tradition. I think Elena made it up so that she would not be lonely in age. Rosaura is also to blame, she should never have married Pedro knowing what he and Tita shared for eachother. Pedro wasn't real bright, marry someone to be close to another person? What is that? SICK!
The comedy in the film was Gertrudis. The scene of her leaving the house naked was hilarious.
The end of the film was very dissapointing, but we all knew that the "book of matches" had to come into play sometime. I agree with you about Tita being desirable only because she could not be touched. We all want what we can't have. In the beginning of the film though, we saw the connection between Pedro and Tita at a very young age.