Why is this specific iteration—the cut—considered an "awesome movie" by its dedicated fanbase? Let’s dive into the lush, dangerous, and unsettling world of Love Strange Love . The Plot: A Fever Dream of Power and Innocence At its core, Amor Estranho Amor is a coming-of-age story, but one that is twisted into a baroque knot of eroticism and political allegory. The film opens in the 1930s. A young boy named Hugo (played by a then-teenage Xuxa Meneghel’s future co-star, José Augusto Branco) is sent from boarding school to stay at his wealthy grandmother’s sprawling, opulent mansion in Rio de Janeiro. His grandmother, a powerful and predatory brothel madam named Drª. Raquel (Vera Fischer in a legendary, ice-cold performance), runs a high-class bordello catering to Brazil’s political elite.
In the vast, shadowy archives of international cinema, certain films languish in obscurity not because they lack artistic merit, but because they are simply too provocative, too strange, or too misunderstood for the mainstream. Amor Estranho Amor (released in English as Love Strange Love ) is the poster child for this phenomenon. Directed by Walter Hugo Khouri and released in 1982, this Brazilian psychological drama has enjoyed a bizarre, second-life renaissance thanks to collectors, curious cinephiles, and fans of cult oddities. And for those who have tracked down the elusive English Dubbed version, the experience is nothing short of hypnotic.
Have you seen the English dub of Love Strange Love? Share your thoughts in the comments below—just be prepared for a strange discussion.
