Also known as Il bel mostro, A Strange Love Affair, Two Girls in My Bed and A Handsome Monster, Love Me Strangely is based on the novel Un beau monstre by Dominique Fabre. It was directed by Sergio Gobbi, who wrote the script with Dominique Fabre and André and Georges Tabet.

The antagonist for everyone in this movie is Alain Revent (Helmut Berger), a man who dominates women so horribly that when his wife can't find something he's hidden from her, she dives out a window. Along with another horrible man, Dino (Alain Nourey), they begin to psychological destroy his second wife, Nathalie (Virna Lisi). By the time a police officer named Leroy (Charles Aznavour) gets involved, they've already driven her to anoerxia.

Helmut Berger is well-known for roles where he destroys women and with this movie and Bluebeard, Lisi gets put into the role of victim. There a line in the novel that this movie comes from, "Taking a woman without destroying her is not really possessing her," that sums up its villain. Can the police officer save her? Does she even want to be saved? Much like The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, so many heroines of 60s and 70s European films could be saved if they just came out and admitted that they liked consensual BDSM and got on with their lives instead of constantly looking for cruel men.

Well trust the strange French to come up with a such a strange film of strange love. My print bears the title, Love Me Strangely, though, strangely enough the box has, The Last Dance of the Blonde Devil, which is really bizarre and seems to caste the blame for all the strangeness on poor Virna Lisi. She is very good, bit past her prime, but does really well with a difficult part. Helmut Berger is excellent and fully convincing as the real Mr Strange. The sexual scenes ate mild by today's standards but are still effective and must have packed a punch back in the day. I suppose the film is a little overlong but it kept me most engaged and I was surprised to find that it ran just under two hours. Always looks good, the music is very much of the time but because it is French not the best rock music in the world, but helps things along anyway. Interesting, thought provoking and more than a little creepy without veering into the horror genre. Charles Aznavour surprisingly good and if his explanation of Berger's strangeness towards the end a little pat, this is not his fault. Very enjoyable, if a little worrying.