For those watching the English-dubbed version today, it remains a haunting experience: a story about the ghosts of childhood, set in a world of silk and smoke, anchored by a performance from a star who spent decades trying to forget she ever made it.
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. For those watching the English-dubbed version today, it
For fans of the version, this controversy adds a layer of forbidden mystique. Watching Xuxa—the same woman who would later wear pastel colors and sing to millions of children—dressed in 1930s lingerie, speaking stilted English lines, is a jarring piece of pop culture archaeology. It transforms the movie from simple erotica into a document of a strange cultural crossroads. The uncut English dubbed version is the holy
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 This transformation has allowed Love Strange Love to be rediscovered not as high art, but as a fascinating historical document: a film that captures the anxiety of late 20th-century Brazil, the lingering shadows of its dictatorial past, and the universal horror of lost childhood.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. It transforms the movie from simple erotica into
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.