Pepi, Luci, Bom

Looking back at the notes I took during the movie, I see that the first thing I wrote down was, "Women use their sexuality as a weapon," and I was referring to the scene where Pepi basically trades a sexual favor for the policeman to ignore her plants (although she got more than she bargained for in the end).

Although I do agree that the film portrays strong, independent women (Luci standing up to her husband, their sexual liberation), I think the times when they draw back to the social "norm" where the woman is weak stands out much more to me. To see them being held back is much more powerful than when they are being raucous and promiscuous.
For example, Bom cannot possibly exact her revenge on the policeman herself, she has to get a group, almost all men, to do it for her. The woman in the group is used more as bait.
When Luci asks questions about safety and the flat to her brother in law, he replies, "This is man's business." Her husband says things like, "I don't like independent women," "Why do you wear those trousers? I hate them," and even "I don't give a shit what you say."

To me, I thought the class was rather controlled in their reactions. The biggest reaction definitely came from the urination scene (it's hard to keep a straight face during that...) but otherwise, we were all pretty subdued for the content that was being portrayed on the screen. I couldn't help but think if that was a result of the fact that we knew everyone else in the room was paying attention to reactions too?