Like Mom

Right from the start in the opening credits, Pepi, Luci, Bom presents images of nudity and bright colors, foreshadowing the many obscene scenes to surprise a mild-mannered class of students. With elements of exaggerated camp juxtaposed with middle-class complacency, the movie, directed by Pedro Almodovar, was not afraid of expressing the sexual and cultural freedom in Madrid, Spain after the authoritarian Franco regime. Many scenes that represented the liberal youth culture included the "golden shower" incident, in which Bom urinates on the masochistic Luci, and the "general erections" competition, in which Luci is chosen to perform fellatio on the most "well-endowed" man at the party. To contrast the three taboo transgressors in the title of the film, there are strictly conservative characters representing the vestiges of the restricting Franco regime, like the chauvinistic policeman, who is ironically married to one of the three main characters, Luci. He states explicitly that he "does not like independent women", and that she should amuse herself by cooking.

In capturing a transitional time in Spain, Almodovar taglined the movie: Pepi, Luci, Bom, and Other Girls Like Mom.

However, much of our generation would not expect our mothers to as bawdy as the three ladies in this film. Interestingly, while we are a class of college students, who are infamously known for utilizing our youth to dabble in a hedonistic culture, we were still appalled at the portrayal of La Movida Madrilena, the cultural movement that Pepi, Luci, and Bom were immersed in. Pepi had offered the policeman oral sex in exchange for his silence on her sale of contrabands, and Luci responded to hearing about Pepi's rape incident by remarking that Pepi was "lucky". These representations of the youthful movement of the generation before us, while definitely exaggerated with elements of camp, has foundations in truth.

While a majority of the plot involves the many lively adventures of the three ladies, the end of the film (as stated in the plot summary on IMDb) Luci eventually returns to her policeman husband, after he brutally attacks her. Her return to housewifery probably comes from her masochistic desires; but regardless, she leaves the youthful cultural and returns to complacency. In addition to that, Pepi and Bom also clock out from the rebellious life become roommates and both work in their respective occupations. Almodovar points out how the three ladies, while having "fought the system" in the counterculture in Madrid, they end up giving into the system, possibly becoming the mothers of the next generation.