City of Women (1980) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Snàporaz follows the mysterious woman because he was captivated by their brief encounter in the train bathroom. When she suddenly gets off at Fregene, his curiosity and desire override any rational judgment, prompting him to chase after her into the forest. This impulsive decision traps him in the surreal feminist world for the rest of the night.

Foreshadowing: Earlier on the train, Snàporaz wakes from sleep in a daze, already disoriented, setting up his vulnerable state when he encounters the woman.

• snàporaz
• woman
• train
• fregene
• forest
• follows

Snàporaz is rejected because he is the only man at a women's-only conference discussing polyandry. The attendees view his presence as an intrusion and an unwelcome reminder of the patriarchal system they are critiquing. The women openly ridicule him, forcing him to leave the conference room in confusion and isolation.

Foreshadowing: The moment he enters the hotel, Snàporaz is surrounded by women who regard him with suspicion and hostility.

• conference
• polyandry
• rejected
• women
• snàporaz
• hotel

Donatella forces Snàporaz to wear roller skates while a circle of angry women skate around him practicing testicle-kicks on a dummy. This surreal scene functions as a symbolic ritual of female power and a direct attack on Snàporaz's masculinity. It represents his vulnerability in a world where traditional gender hierarchies have been completely reversed.

Foreshadowing: Donatella appeared helpful in the elevator, but her true intent becomes clear when she leads him to the gymnasium.

• donatella
• roller skates
• testicle
• dummy
• women
• masculinity

After offering Snàporaz a motorcycle ride, the burly woman detours to a farm and attempts to rape him in a nursery. This scene continues the film's theme of power reversal, where women now pursue and dominate men sexually. Her aggressive advance represents the inversion of traditional gender dynamics that defines the entire hotel world.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Snàporaz was the pursuer chasing women; now he becomes the pursued.

• furnace woman
• rape
• farm
• nursery
• snàporaz
• power reversal

Dr. Katzone's mansion is filled with phallic sculptures and sexual imagery, representing extreme masculine vanity and obsession with conquest. The wall of photographs chronicling his 10,000 sexual conquests that whisper when lit up showcases his egomania. The mansion serves as a stark contrast to the feminist world, where men have objectified women, now turned into a grotesque display of male narcissism awaiting destruction.

Foreshadowing: Snàporaz sought shelter at Katzone's mansion after being chased through the night.

• katzone
• mansion
• phallic
• photographs
• conquests
• party

The all-female police force, dressed in Nazi-like uniforms, raids Katzone's party and announces the demolition of his house. They also reveal they have shot his beloved dog Italo, leaving Katzone in grief. The dog killing symbolizes the complete dismantling of the male-dominated world Katzone represents, destroying something he loves most as an act of final domination.

Foreshadowing: Katzone fires at the women pursuing Snàporaz, suggesting violent conflict between genders.

• italo
• dog
• killed
• police
• katzone
• demolished

Inside the dream, Snàporaz crawls under the bed and slides down a magical toboggan revisiting childhood crushes, a sitter, a nurse, and a prostitute, before being judged by a bizarre court for his masculinity. This sequence explores his subconscious guilt and formative experiences with women. The toboggan functions as a descent into his psyche, revealing how his relationships with women throughout his life have shaped his current feelings of judgment and inadequacy.

Foreshadowing: Strange noises pull Snàporaz into the dream sequence right after sleeping with Elena.

• dream
• toboggan
• childhood
• court
• masculinity
• snàporaz

In the dream's climax, Snàporaz boards a hot-air balloon shaped like Donatella, only for the real Donatella to fire a machine gun from below, puncturing the balloon and sending him crashing down. This violent rejection symbolizes his ultimate expulsion from the female world, he is figuratively and literally shot down by the very woman he pursued throughout the night.

Foreshadowing: Donatella was both helpful and threatening throughout Snàporaz's journey.

• balloon
• donatella
• shot
• machine gun
• dream
• crash

The film ends with Snàporaz waking up on the same train, suggesting the entire surreal narrative was a nightmare. However, the ending remains ambiguous, his broken glasses mirror the dream, and the mysterious woman and Donatella reappear and sit beside him, exchanging knowing smiles with his ex-wife Elena. This ambiguity blurs the line between dream and reality, leaving whether any of it actually happened unresolved.

Foreshadowing: The entire hotel sequence has a dreamlike, surreal quality from the start.

• dream
• nightmare
• train
• ending
• ambiguous
• reality

The mysterious woman who initiates the entire story remains unnamed and largely unexplained. She seduces Snàporaz in the train bathroom, then deliberately gets off at Fregene, leading him into the forest and toward the surreal hotel. At the end, she returns and sits beside him on the train, sharing a knowing smile with Elena, suggesting she may be a symbolic figure rather than a real person, possibly an embodiment of the dream itself.

Foreshadowing: The woman appears at both the beginning and end, bookending the narrative.

• mysterious woman
• train
• fregene
• elena
• donatella
• symbolic

When Snàporaz wakes on the train, he notices his glasses are broken, a detail that mirrors his dream experience when he was shot down from the balloon. The broken glasses symbolize distorted perception and the collapse of his normal worldview. Whether this confirms the dream was real or suggests his reality is now permanently altered remains intentionally unclear.

Foreshadowing: In the dream, Snàporaz falls from a great height when the balloon is punctured.

• glasses
• broken
• dream
• train
• symbol
• perception

The all-female police force wears Nazi-style uniforms, combining historical fascism with gender power dynamics. This visual choice suggests that the female-dominated world has adopted oppressive tactics similar to totalitarian regimes. The uniforms also add to the film's surreal, nightmarish quality by mixing historical horror with fantastical gender reversal.

Foreshadowing: The police arrive at Katzone's party, signaling the violent climax of the narrative.

• police
• uniforms
• nazi
• women
• raid
• katzone

The film ends with the train racing into a dark tunnel as Elena, the mysterious woman, and Donatella share knowing smiles. The tunnel is a classic cinematic symbol of transition, rebirth, or entry into the unconscious. It suggests Snàporaz is about to re-enter the surreal world or that the boundary between his dream and reality has permanently collapsed.

Foreshadowing: The entire narrative begins and ends on the same train.

• tunnel
• train
• ending
• darkness
• rebirth
• cycle