Name: Estranho Encontro
Genre: Crime
Released: 2017-05-07
Duration: 1 h 27 min
Rating: 6.9
Cast: Mário Sérgio, Andrea Bayard, Lola Brah

Effective combination of film-noir, thriller and drama

"Strange Encounter" tells the story of Júlia, a young woman (Andrea Bayard) who bumps into nice man Marcos (Mário Sérgio) after running away from her tyrannical husband (Luigi Picchi) and his repetitive and menacing obsessions. Marcos rescues her and takes her to his lover's house (Lola Brah), the only place they could be safe except for the presence of the nosy caretaker (Sérgio Hingst). The ultimate goal for Marcos is a double plan of hiding the woman from all of those people.

Walter Hugo Khouri's second film (and first available) is a classy film-noir that explores the dynamics of relationships between men and women, a recurring theme in his works. The difference of this film with the others he end up doing is that he leaves the sexuality out (for obvious reasons) and really focuses on potential new lovers in the strange encounter of two different lovers. It's very tame, and the key element of attraction is the danger involved in keeping things a secret, one person helping the other and loves blossoms from there.

While the story seems a cliche, there are a couple of twists in it that prevents from being one. The whole terror Júlia feels from her husband, as she later recalls in a series of flashbacks, isn't necessarily physical violence, it's more like a pyschologial terror while living with a dominating man with strange habits that he feels the need to address, revolving around a trauma in his life where he lost a leg. You read right, he has a prosthetic leg. And with the great nuances and sinister elements inspired by Hitchcock's "Rebecca", the film works because of the whole fright that man causes on his young wife since she feels completely abandoned, hopeless and constantly imagining she'll be killed by him. And he could do that.

A very enjoyable film with plenty of great surprises, a well-built suspense and some nice small romance between the main couple. The small objection I have is the whole presentation about the caretaker and how he deals with Mário throughout the film. Mário isn't the boss but he's engaged with the boss and she likes him yet the worker acts in a challenging manner as if he's superior to the guy he should be serving with quality. He's opposite to Mário from the get-go, and that makes such character predictable to future events. It's a script problem, not an actor's one.

I wasn't expecting much from "Strange Encounter" but I've got plenty with it, and the surprise at the ending also made a big difference. You'll be thinking about this film afterwards. 8/10.

Portuguese-language cinema, spanning Portugal, Brazil, and other Lusophone regions, focuses on history, cultural identity, and the struggles of ordinary people, often framed with poetic or allegorical storytelling. In Portugal, cinema has emphasized meditative pacing and philosophical depth, reflecting on memory and tradition. In Brazil, it has often been politically charged and socially vibrant, highlighting inequality and resilience while experimenting with popular and avant-garde forms.

Alexandre Rodrigues in City of God (2002)

The crime genre features criminal activities, investigations, law enforcement, crimes, and the pursuit of justice. Crime stories often revolve around the planning, execution, and consequences of criminal acts, as well as the efforts to solve and prevent such acts. They explore various aspects of criminal behavior, motives, and the moral dilemmas faced by both perpetrators and those seeking to uphold the law.

James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Sharon Angela, Max Casella, Dan Grimaldi, Joe Perrino, Donna Pescow, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, and Michael Drayer in The Sopranos (1999)

Two pairs of mismatched lovers wind up in a dangerous situation when the younger partners of each relationship meet by accident.

Andrea Bayard in Estranho Encontro (1958)

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Andrea Bayard and Mário Sérgio in Estranho Encontro (1958)

Estranho Encontro

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