Kiss of the Spider Woman

Molina admits that she’s really happy, as she remembers the feeling of being intimately connected with Valentin and feels safe in Valentin’s presence. However, she also wishes she would just die. Valentin encourages her to finish telling the film’s plot, so she does. 

The actress leaves her husband and finds the reporter, who now has an alcohol addiction, broke and on the verge of dying. The actress doesn’t have enough money to support him—her husband has leveraged his power to prevent her from finding work in the entertainment industry—so she becomes a sex worker. When the reporter finds out, he leaves, feeling like a burden to her. 

Molina admits that she feels like she’ll never be pardoned and will never see Valentin again. Valentin doesn’t reassure her but doesn’t agree, either. They discuss their intimacy, and Valentin tells Molina that even though she prefers to act as a woman, she doesn’t have to be submissive, as he believes that men and women are equal in relationships. Molina disagrees, feeling as though the man should feel like a man in the relationship. Valentin replies, “[T]his business of being a man, it doesn’t give any special rights to anyone” (243).