The Hidden Themes

My initial reaction to this movie: what in the world is going on?!
A man just walks into a woman's apartment and rapes her as she simply says no but doesn't really struggle (although she is mad she can no longer sell her virginity)? What... And the movie just gets weirder and weirder. By the end, I was just glad that it was over. In retrospect, however, the movie had many themes that escaped my thoughts initially.

The movie should the hypocritical nature of chauvinists. Luci's husband rapes women, is disloyal to his wife, but he expects her to be pure and clean (and beats her when he finds out she has been engaging in inappropriate activities). Interestingly enough, the same goes to show feminine resilience. While Luci has been undergoing abuse for ages, she is slowly beginning to learn that she does not need to take it anymore. When her husband takes out his belt to whip her, she simply leaves for her groupy event, slamming the door in his face. Female power is shown throughout the movie, especially when Pepi has a group of people plan to beat him up (for revenge) and paying them with marijuana. At a time where women predominantly played domestic, subordinate roles, such bold statements made by the movie were probably very unconventional.

The film (as noted in the blogpost below) does utilize some camp techniques, engaging in frivolous, exaggerated scenes that shock the audience, ultimately allowing them to see the irony of the situations and laugh at it. The friendship between Pepi and Bo is perhaps the strongest part of the movie, which shows that two women can face the world without the strong, supporting shoulder of a man. Luci seems to be understanding this concept as Pepi continues to lure her away from her abusive husband. She clearly states her discovery when she exclaims that the money she is earning is going to pay for his debts, a clear and caustic blow to his self-conceived superiority and masculinity. The film strongly supports female empowerment in a time women are just beginning to explore the idea of total autonomy (in Europe).