Futuristic and Dystopian, DIVINE LOVE is a Non-Orthodox Religious Narrative from Brazil

The film Divino Amor (Divine Love) by Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro (Boi Neon) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, receiving critical acclaim and intense reactions from audiences. Recommended for adult viewers only, the film surprises and provokes everyone who watches it. Its North American release begins on Friday, November 13, by Outsider Pictures and Strand Releasing.

It is the year 2027 in this futuristic story about Joana (Brazilian star Dira Paes), who uses her position at the registry office to convince divorcing couples to stay together. The secret weapon is “Divino Amor,” an evangelical cult to which Joana belongs, mixing group therapy practices with a bit of swinging in its traditional prayers and Bible studies.

A crisis in her own marriage brings Joana closer to God, who is the foundation of her life. When Joana fails to conceive with her husband, she regularly prays at a drive-in church, asking for a sign that she would conceive a child, but she ends up receiving a sign even greater than she was prepared for.

Divino Amor is an unusual take on a religious future filled with dance parties, ritualistic orgies, cults, and Evangelical Christianity, as well as a critique of contemporary Brazil driven by the right. Director Gabriel Mascaro states, “the film takes place in a time when most of Brazil’s population becomes evangelical, but the state still claims to be secular. This is a film that speculates about the near future through an extraordinary allegory.

Divino Amor is a commentary on the conservative, fanatical, and nationalist agenda that is spreading across the world and how those who disagree with it interact with it. Brazil has traditionally been treated as a liberal and united country, where the celebration of carnival showcases the diversity and cordiality of the nation. But it is a fact that in recent years, a cultural, social, and political transformation led by powerful and ultra-conservative forces has taken over the country.”

Instead of telling the story of a character fighting against this conservative takeover, I wanted to tell the story of a woman consumed by the desire to advance the conservative religious agenda in a very personal way. If a social chasm has emerged as a result of hatred and misunderstanding, cinema is a space where I can fantasize about unlikely encounters.”

“A complex and exuberant sociopolitical commentary.”
—Eric Kohn, IndieWire

“Shocking, wonderfully staged, and surprisingly erotic.”
—Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com

“An intimate and careful meditation on spirituality and sensuality.”
—Sarah Ward, Screen International

“The new era of Brazilian protest cinema begins here.”
—Guy Lodge, Variety