The sexual scenes of the film are designed to underscore the female domination of the male, even in terms of his sexual identity. "Amantes" forcefully depicts the subversive power of Luisa's sexuality. From the moment she opens the door to Paco, wearing a colorful dark blue robe and draped with glittering streamers she is using to decorate a Christmas tree, Luisa appears as a profane alternative to the Madonna. Her body substitutes for the Christmas tree and all of its religious symbolism, offering eroticism in place of religious ecstasy. Not only is she the sexual subject who actively pursues her own desire and who first seduces Paco, but she continues to control the love-making. In a graphic sex scene, we see her penetrating his anus with a silk handkerchief and then withdrawing it in the moments of ecstasy. Despite her sexually dominating her young lover, Luisa remains loving and emotionally vulnerable. Paco's response not only makes him obsessed, but he rejects the more traditional passive sexuality of his fiancéé Trini.