To understand Love, Strange Love, one must understand Walter Hugo Khouri. He was a serious auteur, often compared to Ingmar Bergman for his existential themes of loneliness, bourgeois alienation, and the impossibility of love. Khouri did not see himself as a pornographer. He saw himself as a philosopher of eros.
In interviews (translated for English audiences), Khouri argued that Amor Estranho Amor was a metaphor for Brazil itself during the military dictatorship (1964–1985). The brothel represents the nation. The politicians (the adult Hugo) are corrupted by their first encounter with power—which Khouri equates with sex. The boy represents innocence corrupted by a decadent, authoritarian state. Amor Estranho Amor -Love Strange Love- -1982- English
Khouri insisted the film was not pedophilic but anti-pedophilic. He claimed he was showing the horror of adult manipulation. However, the visual language of the film contradicts his verbal defense. The cinematography by Antonio Meliande is lush, romantic, and often voyeuristically enraptured. The camera lingers on the boy’s body with the same reverent lighting used for Vera Fischer’s breasts. The distinction between “depiction” and “celebration” is dangerously blurred. To understand Love, Strange Love , one must
Amor Estranho Amor remains a potent piece of cinema history. It transcends its genre origins to become a psychological study of trauma and memory. While the subject matter is undeniably provocative and uncomfortable, Khouri handles it with a level of artistic integrity that refuses to exploit the characters for cheap thrills. It is a sad, beautiful film about the strangeness of love—how it can be nurturing, destructive, and confusing all at once. He saw himself as a philosopher of eros
Khouri claimed the film was not a celebration of pedophilia but a psychological study of how power, politics, and sexuality intertwine. Key themes include: