For decades, accessing Amor Estranho Amor meant struggling with Portuguese subtitles and faded VHS rips. However, the English Dubbed release (prepared for the international market in the early 80s) changed the game for non-Brazilian audiences. Here is why that specific version is so beloved:
Good luck. Love Strange Love has been banned in several countries and heavily censored in others. The uncut English dubbed version is the holy grail for collectors of "Video Nasties" and Brazilian cult cinema.
If you find a DVD rip or a fan restoration online, grab it. Watch it at 1:00 AM with the lights off. Do not watch it with your parents.
For years, this version was lost to bootlegs traded on forums. Today, due to the cult status, you can find the 1982 English Dubbed version on specialized boutique Blu-ray releases (check labels like Mondo Macabro or Severin Films) or on dedicated cult streaming platforms. Be cautious of YouTube uploads—most are the Portuguese cut with hard-coded subtitles that ruin the aesthetic.
When searching, use the exact keyword string: "Amor Estranho Amor Love Strange Love 1982 English Dubbed". You are looking for the full 119-minute cut. Avoid the truncated European versions which cut nearly 20 minutes of character development.
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. For decades, accessing Amor Estranho Amor meant struggling
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. It is impossible to discuss this film without
It is impossible to discuss this film without addressing the elephant in the room: the age of the protagonist. The film centers on a prepubescent boy surrounded by adult sexuality. Khouri handles this with a mix of artistic pretension and voyeurism that would likely be impossible to film today.
However, unlike modern exploitation films, Love Strange Love is framed as a psychological drama about loss of innocence. It explores the idea that children understand more than adults assume. The "strange love" is the tragic realization that the safe, maternal love Hugo craves is unavailable to him in a transactional world.
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. … Love Strange Love will feel like a lost cousin
It would be dishonest to discuss Love Strange Love without addressing the controversy surrounding its release. Many critics accused Khouri of creating softcore child exploitation. Defenders argue the film is a powerful critique of authoritarianism, showing how totalitarian regimes (like the looming 1937 dictatorship) turn human relationships into commodities.
The truth lies somewhere in between. Khouri frequently explored "cupiditas" (worldly, base desire) versus "caritas" (spiritual, pure love). In Love Strange Love, Hugo represents innocence trying to make sense of a corrupted world. The film never endorses the actions of the adults; instead, it observes them with cold, unnerving clarity. The final scene—where an elderly politician weeps alone—is a damning indictment of how power destroys the soul.
Let’s be real. By modern standards, Love Strange Love is problematic. The pacing is glacial by Hollywood norms. Some scenes feel repetitive. And yes, the central premise involving a child remains deeply uncomfortable. However, to dismiss it is to miss the point.
What makes it awesome in the truest sense of the word (inspiring awe) is its willingness to stare into the abyss. This is not a feel-good movie. It is a movie about the strange, illogical nature of love—how it can blossom in the worst conditions, how it can be manipulated, and how childhood memories haunt us forever.
For fans of:
…Love Strange Love will feel like a lost cousin. Add the bizarre charm of a 1982 English dub, and you have a movie night that your friends will never forget.