Amor Estranho Amor -love Strange Love- -1982- English Dubbed Awesome Movie Review

Calling a movie filled with psychological manipulation "awesome" might seem strange, but Love Strange Love earns the title through pure craft.

Amor Estranho Amor is not a movie for everyone. It is slow, uncomfortable, and asks difficult questions about the nature of consent and power. But for fans of arthouse sleaze, erotic thrillers, and international curiosities, the 1982 English Dubbed version is a holy grail. It is a time capsule of early 80s Brazilian cinema filtered through a bizarre, dubbed lens that makes everything feel simultaneously more foreign and more familiar.

If you have the stomach for its strange love, you will find an awesome movie—beautiful, tragic, and unforgettable. Track down the English dub, turn off the lights, and let the strange love take hold.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 – Cult Classic Status) Watch if you like: The Night Porter, Story of O, Fellini’s Roma, or late-night Cinemax oddities.

Have you seen the English dub of Love Strange Love? Share your thoughts in the comments below—just be prepared for a strange discussion.

Amor Estranho Amor (also known as Love Strange Love 1982 Brazilian erotic drama

directed by Walter Hugo Khouri. It is widely recognized more for its legal controversies and the involvement of Brazilian icon Xuxa Meneghel than for its critical standing. 🎬 Movie Overview Original Title: Amor Estranho Amor Release Date: July 7, 1982 (Brazil) Walter Hugo Khouri

Vera Fischer, Tarcísio Meira, Xuxa Meneghel, and Marcelo Ribeiro Approximately 120 minutes

Original Portuguese; English dubbed/subtitled versions exist in rare formats 📜 Plot Summary

The story is framed as a memory of an older, influential man reflecting on a pivotal 48-hour period in 1937.

The 1982 Brazilian film Amor Estranho Amor (English title: Love Strange Love) is well-known for its controversial history and long-standing legal battles. Directed by Walter Hugo Khouri, it stars Vera Fischer and Xuxa Meneghel. Movie Overview

Plot: A man visits an old manor and remembers a 48-hour period from his childhood in 1937. He was sent to stay with his mother in a bordello, where he experienced his sexual awakening.

Main Cast: Vera Fischer (Anna), Tarcísio Meira (Dr. Osmar), and Xuxa Meneghel (Tamara).

Controversy: The film became infamous because of a scene involving the character Tamara (Xuxa) and the 12-year-old protagonist. For decades, Xuxa—who later became a famous children's TV host—successfully sued to keep the movie out of circulation in Brazil. The ban was effectively lifted in 2017, and it finally aired on Brazilian television in 2021. Language and Availability

Amor Estranho Amor (released in English as Love Strange Love) is a 1982 Brazilian erotic crime drama directed by Walter Hugo Khouri. While originally filmed in Portuguese, English-dubbed versions were released on VHS and later on DVD in the United States, often marketed as an "uncut" or "unrated" version. Movie Overview

Plot: The story follows an adult politician who reminisces about a transformative 48-hour period in 1937 when he was a 12-year-old boy. Sent to live with his mother in an upscale brothel, he experiences his sexual awakening through his interactions with the resident prostitutes.

Major Stars: The film features famous Brazilian actors including Vera Fischer, Tarcísio Meira, and Xuxa Meneghel. Controversy and Availability Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 – Cult Classic Status) Watch

The film is highly controversial due to explicit scenes involving the then-young protagonist and adult women, particularly the sequence featuring Xuxa.

Legal Battles: For years, Brazilian TV host Xuxa Meneghel fought legally to prevent the film's distribution in Brazil to protect her image as a children's entertainer.

English Version: Despite the restrictions in Brazil, the film was released on DVD in the United States around 2005. English-dubbed versions are frequently noted for their poor quality, described by some reviewers as "atrocious".

Where to Find: You can still find the film through specialty retailers like J4HI or listed on IMDb for historical details.

The 1982 Brazilian film Amor Estranho Amor (English title: Love Strange Love ) is an erotic crime drama written and directed by Walter Hugo Khouri

. It is notably one of the most controversial films in Brazilian cinema history due to its subject matter and the subsequent legal battles involving its cast. Film Overview

The story follows an adult man reflecting on 48 crucial hours of his youth in 1937 São Paulo. As a 12-year-old boy named Hugo, he is sent to live with his mother, Anna, who resides in a luxurious bordello owned by an influential politician. During this short stay, amidst the backdrop of major political shifts in Brazil, Hugo experiences his sexual awakening through his interactions with the women in the house. Key Cast and Crew

The 1982 Brazilian erotic drama Amor Estranho Amor (internationally known as Love Strange Love) is one of the most polarizing and legally embattled films in South American cinema history. Directed by Walter Hugo Khouri, the film transitioned from a scandalous "banned" movie to a cult classic, recently gaining renewed interest through digital restorations and specialized streaming releases. The Story: A Journey Through Memory and Sexuality

Set against the backdrop of political upheaval in 1937 Brazil, the narrative follows Hugo, an adult man who returns to his childhood home—once a luxurious mansion serving as a high-class brothel. Love Strange Love (1982) - IMDb

Amor Estranho Amor (English title Love Strange Love) is a controversial 1982 Brazilian film directed by Walter Hugo Khouri. The movie centers on themes of eroticism, memory, and moral ambiguity, framed through the eyes of a journalist who returns to his past and recounts a sexualized encounter from his adolescence. Its reputation rests less on conventional cinematic achievements and more on the ethical controversies and cultural conversations it provoked.

Story and structure

Themes and motifs

Performances and direction

Controversy and cultural impact

Ethical considerations for viewers

Artistic appraisal

Conclusion Amor Estranho Amor is a film that remains significant mainly because it forces confrontation with difficult questions: how cinema represents sexuality, how memory sanitizes or eroticizes the past, and where lines must be drawn to protect the vulnerable. For some it is a provocative work of art that probes taboo territory; for many others it is a troubling piece whose content cannot be disentangled from real-world harm.

Title: A Haunting, Bizarre Masterpiece – The English Dub Adds a New Layer

Rating: 4/5 Stars (or 8/10)

I finally tracked down the English dubbed version of Amor Estranho Amor (marketed as Love Strange Love), and it is an experience I won’t forget. This is not a film for everyone, and it’s important to know going in that it’s a very uncomfortable, atmospheric dive into the memories of a politician recalling his traumatic childhood in a high-end brothel during the 1930s. The subject matter is heavy and deeply taboo, so viewer discretion is absolutely advised.

That said, as a piece of strange, dreamlike cinema, it’s undeniably powerful. The cinematography is lush and suffocating—you can almost feel the heat and the velvet curtains. Vera Fischer is absolutely mesmerizing; her performance is cold, beautiful, and terrifying all at once. You can’t look away from her.

Now, about the English dub: Usually, I’m a subtitle purist, but for this film, the dubbed version gives it an unexpected, almost surreal quality. The slightly off-kilter voice acting adds to the disorienting, nightmare-logic feel of the movie. It makes the already uncomfortable scenes feel even more artificial and dreamlike, which actually works in the film’s favor. The dialogue is melodramatic and stilted in a way that feels intentional.

If you’re a fan of obscure, controversial arthouse cinema—think Salo meets The Blue Lagoon in a Brazilian bordello—you need to see this. It’s not "fun" or "sexy." It’s disturbing, sad, and weirdly beautiful. The English dub makes it accessible and adds a unique flavor you won’t get from the original Portuguese.

Bottom Line: An awesome, strange, and troubling gem. Just don’t watch it with your parents.

Recommend for: Fans of cult oddities, Vera Fischer completists, and anyone who likes movies that make them feel deeply unsettled.

Cinema’s Most Lavish Taboo: A Feature on Amor Estranho Amor (Love Strange Love, 1982)

There is a specific breed of cinema that defies conventional categorization, existing in a hazy twilight zone between high art, historical drama, and exploitative melodrama. Walter Hugo Khouri’s 1982 magnum opus, Amor Estranho Amor (Love Strange Love), is the undisputed king of this realm.

Often discovered through whispered recommendations and illicit late-night viewing, the English-dubbed version of this Brazilian classic has rightfully earned its reputation as an "awesome movie"—a mesmerizing, deeply uncomfortable, and undeniably hypnotic masterpiece of sensual cinema.

Here is a deep dive into what makes Love Strange Love an unforgettable experience.

My headline calls it an "Awesome Movie." Let me clarify: This isn't awesome like Die Hard. This is awesome in the biblical sense—inspiring awe and terror simultaneously.

The film is notorious for its themes of sexual awakening involving a minor. It is uncomfortable. It is predatory. It is not a "good" movie in the traditional sense. However, as a time capsule of early 80s erotic cinema, it is absolutely fascinating.

The English dub softens the realism just enough to let you view it as a tragic fairy tale. You watch this boy wander through a mansion of lonely, desperate women, and the terrible English voice acting makes it feel like a video game cutscene from hell. It is so bizarre, so uniquely misplaced, that you cannot look away. Themes and motifs

In the vast, often unsettling landscape of Brazilian cinema, few films evoke as much visceral discomfort and polarizing debate as Walter Hugo Khouri’s Amor Estranho Amor (released in English as Love Strange Love). Dubbed by some as an art-house exploration of sexual awakening and by others as an exploitative melodrama, the 1982 film occupies a bizarre limbo: it is simultaneously a period piece about political prostitution, a coming-of-age thriller, and a relic of Brazil’s military dictatorship. For English-speaking audiences, the “English Dubbed Awesome Movie” label—often found on cult home-video releases—adds another layer of surreal fascination. To watch Love Strange Love is to confront not just a narrative, but a mirror reflecting uncomfortable truths about power, memory, and the commodification of innocence.

Set against the opulent backdrop of a luxurious brothel on the eve of the 1930s revolution, the film unfolds through the eyes of 12-year-old Hugo (Marcelo Ribeiro), who is sent to live with his mysterious mother, Anna (Vera Fischer), in a mansion that doubles as a high-end bordello. What follows is a fever-dream sequence of voyeurism, languid afternoons, and predatory affection. The title itself—“Strange Love”—is deliberately ironic. There is nothing loving about the world Khouri constructs; instead, the film dissects how affection becomes transactional when power is absolute. Hugo is not a protagonist but a pawn, a silent observer whose virginity becomes the ultimate prize for the establishment’s wealthy clients.

The film’s primary strength, and the source of its enduring controversy, is its unflinching visual language. Khouri, a master of existentialist cinema, uses long takes, lush close-ups, and a hauntingly minimalistic score to trap the viewer inside the brothel’s suffocating walls. The English-dubbed version, often dismissed by purists, inadvertently enhances this surreal quality. The mismatched lip movements and theatrical voice-over performances create a Brechtian alienation effect, reminding audiences that they are watching a constructed nightmare. In this dubbed format, Love Strange Love transcends straightforward exploitation and enters the realm of camp—yet it remains deadly serious. The dissonance between the dubbing’s melodrama and the raw, predatory imagery forces viewers to engage critically rather than passively consume.

However, to discuss Amor Estranho Amor honestly, one must address the elephant in the room: the sexualization of a child actor. Even within the context of 1982—a time when Brazil was under a censorship-heavy military regime that paradoxically allowed such films to pass as “artistic”—the film’s lingering gaze on Hugo’s body and his gradual seduction is deeply troubling. Modern audiences will recoil, and rightly so. The “awesome” label some cult fans attach to the movie is less an endorsement of its ethics and more a recognition of its audacity. The film dares to ask a horrifying question: What happens when the institutions meant to protect (family, government, economy) are merely different faces of the same predatory system? The brothel in the film is a metaphor for the Estado Novo (New State) dictatorship—a gilded cage where everyone is either a client or a commodity.

The English-dubbed version, now a collector’s item, adds a final twist to the film’s legacy. For international viewers, the awkward synchronization and translated dialogue strip away some of the original Portuguese’s poetic ambiguity, replacing it with a blunt, almost grindhouse directness. This transformation has allowed Love Strange Love to be rediscovered not as high art, but as a fascinating historical document: a film that captures the anxiety of late 20th-century Brazil, the lingering shadows of its dictatorial past, and the universal horror of lost childhood. It is “awesome” in the original sense of the word—inspiring awe, dread, and deep unease.

In conclusion, Amor Estranho Amor / Love Strange Love is not a film to be enjoyed but to be endured and examined. It is a troubling masterpiece of atmosphere and a testament to how cinema can make beauty repulsive and horror hypnotic. The English-dubbed version, with all its technical flaws, serves as an accidental key to understanding the film’s central theme: the failure of language to capture trauma. Whether one calls it strange, terrible, or awesome, the film refuses to be forgotten. And perhaps that is its most powerful legacy—a reminder that the most dangerous love is the one that never calls itself by its true name.

Directed by Walter Hugo Khouri, Amor Estranho Amor (1982) is a seminal piece of Brazilian cinema that explores the intersections of memory, burgeoning sexuality, and the decay of political power. Often overshadowed by its legal controversies involving star Xuxa Meneghel, the film remains a complex psychological drama that uses its erotic elements to critique the elite society of 1930s Brazil. Plot and Narrative Structure

The film is framed as a memory play. An adult politician, Hugo, returns to a derelict mansion that once served as a high-class brothel. The narrative then shifts to 1937, where a 12-year-old Hugo is sent to live with his mother, Anna (played by Vera Fischer), the mistress of a powerful politician named Osmar.

Loss of Innocence: In the brothel, young Hugo is exposed to a world of adult desire and corruption. He becomes a voyeuristic witness to political maneuvers and carnal exchanges.

Desire and Memory: The story focuses on Hugo’s attraction to Tamara (Xuxa), a young prostitute, and his complicated relationship with his mother, which eventually culminates in a controversial incestuous encounter. Themes and Cinematic Context

While the "English Dubbed" version is often noted by viewers for its sometimes disjointed audio quality, the film's visual and thematic depth is characteristic of Khouri's "arty" and philosophical style.

Political Decay: The brothel serves as a microcosm for the Brazilian "Estado Novo" coup. The sexual libertinism of the mansion exists under the protection of political figures who are themselves on the verge of losing or shifting power.

Psychological Exploration: Critics have compared the film's focus on pre-teen discovery to Louis Malle’s Murmur of the Heart or Pretty Baby, though Khouri imbues it with a more pervasive sense of existential melancholy.

The film operates as a fever dream of memory. It opens with a man in his forties waiting for a woman in a park, triggering a flashback to his childhood. The story transports us to a high-end brothel in 1937 São Paulo, run by the elegant and distant Laura (played by the iconic Xuxa Meneghel).

The protagonist, Hugo, is a 12-year-old boy left at the brothel by his wealthy grandmother. The film’s tension comes from Hugo's navigation of this adult world. He is not just a passive observer; he becomes an object of affection, rivalry, and curiosity for the women who live there. The "Strange Love" of the title refers to the blurred lines between maternal care, childhood innocence, and premature sexual awakening.

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. Title: A Haunting

Why is this specific iteration—the 1982 English Dubbed cut—considered an "awesome movie" by its dedicated fanbase? Let’s dive into the lush, dangerous, and unsettling world of Love Strange Love.