Telephone
The close-up shots of the telephone appear throughout the movie meant to symbolize Pepa’s growing despair and her direction towards the nervous breakdown. Ivan breaks up with her over the telephone, and heartbroken Pepa eagerly waits for his call. The tool of communication becomes a symbol of ever-growing distance between the two.
The opening scene
The opening scene shows Ivan during one of his jobs as a voice-over actor. He is symbolically shown walking through the halls sweet-talking various women, which is meant to indicate his womanizer and chauvinist tendencies.
Burning the bed
Pepa decides to stop being nice and enduring the pain quietly after the breakup with Ivan. She burns the bed and gifts from Ivan, things that symbolize the love between them. Her burning the bed symbolizes her anger and heartbreak, but also her start of acceptance.
The wedding scene
Pepa is shown voice-acting over a movie which shows a wedding scene of an unsure couple: the groom unsure if the wedding is what he wants and the bride unsure whether she can trust the man, with the priest himself telling her to never trust men. This scene is symbolic because it shows the main issue shown in the movie with Pepa who was blinded by love towards a man who doesn’t care about her.
