The lizard Dinero
Toni and his grandmother discover a lizard outside, and the old woman feels bad for it, so she decides to take it home. Gloria is not happy with this, but as always her say in the home she mostly provides for is ignored. The lizard is symbolic for its name that translates to money, strengthening the feeling of poverty the family is in-money is as odd occurrence in the house as the lizard.
Murder weapon
Following the grotesque mood of the movie, the murder weapon that kills Gloria’s husband is a piece of ham. Gloria, a constantly humiliated housewife who desperately wants some control over her life, is freed from the abuse from her husband with the help of a piece of food she’s supposed to cook for the family. A symbol of Gloria’s imprisonment and lack of freedom becomes symbolic of her freedom.
Juani and her daughter
All the characters in the movie, aside from Gloria, can be seen as grotesque archetypes that represent a deeper meaning. One of such character is Juani together with her daughter, representing an inherent female destructiveness, a generational trauma passed on from a mother to the daughter and complicated and abusive mother-daughter relationship.
Motif of sexuality
Motif of sexuality is present in the movie as a part of the feminine state of oppression and emotional and psychological disintegration. Gloria represents a woman that goes to a psychological and emotional suffering. Her husband is selfish to her in many ways, even sexually. This leads to comical scenes with her neighbor Cristal, who works as a sex worker and tries to help Gloria in this regard, but it doesn’t quite work out as expected because even in this situation Gloria experiences lack of satisfaction.
