In 2023, Nicolas Winding Refn was clinically dead with a hole in his heart for almost 25 minutes until he was revived with electric shocks. Looking back, the Danish “Drive” mastermind is sure that his youngest daughter wasn’t ready to let him go – and that was the only reason he returned from the afterlife. He has since adjusted his lifestyle and moved away from streaming, although he has made “a big pile of money” from series for Amazon and Netflix. The starting signal for the cinema comeback was a call to studio boss Tom Quinn, for whom Refn’s “The Neon Demon” once served as the namesake for his company NEON.
When asked what kind of film he wanted to make, the “Valhalla Rising” director didn’t have an answer at that point – but he still received a blank promise as long as he could make the film “for a certain amount”. Now “Her Private Hell” has celebrated its world premiere in Cannes – but the answer to the mystery of what kind of film it actually is isn’t necessarily any easier just because we’ve seen it. The retro-futuristic-looking horror film largely appears to be a hypnotic collection of operatic, stylized sets – with actors draped by the director like puppets in the extremely abstract sets.
Elle (Sophie Thatcher) is slated for the lead role in a space opera – but at the same time she also has to be careful of the infamous “Leatherman”.
Just rewriting the plot is quite a challenge, which may be due to the fact that it was shot in chronological order. The director and his cast were able to decide every morning where the journey should go – and sometimes Refn even greeted his actresses with a “Maybe you’ll die today.” So the script was adjusted daily – but I’ll just give it a try anyway: In a metropolis surrounded by thick neon fog, Elle (Sophie Thatcher), her stepmother Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), who is around the same age, and Hunter (Kristine Frøseth) are waiting in an otherwise deserted luxury hotel.
Apparently, filming is set to begin soon on a sci-fi comic book adaptation about a group of kick-ass space cadets, with the trio set to play the lead roles. At the same time, the notorious serial killer “Leatherman”, who clutches his victims and rips their chests open, is up to mischief. And then there is a parallel plot about the soldier Kay (Charles Melton), who is looking for his missing daughter in post-war Japan – and not only takes on the Yakuza, but also doesn’t shy away from a trip to hell…
A director who likes to play with puppets
The starting point for Nicolas Winding Refn was definitely his own cardiac arrest – and the associated thoughts of his youngest child. Kay, who is looking for his daughter, is something like the director’s alter ego. There are also motifs from the Orpheus legend, the giallo genre and space comics as well as lots of personal fetish preferences. At some point the actresses even suddenly start barking for no reason. Refn had all the sets built at once in a studio in Copenhagen – and with his small team he then had absolute freedom to dress his actors like plastic dolls or action figures and arrange them in the room.
In addition, the composer icon Pino Donaggio, legendary especially for his Brian De Palma collaborations on masterpieces such as “Carrie”, “Dressed To Kill” or “Blow Out”, is once again releasing one of his most spherical soundtracks at the age of 84! Meanwhile, Refn’s favorite saying while filming was: “Less is more and nothing is everything.” This means: wherever possible, only minimal gestures if possible. Sophie Thatcher in particular, who literally embodied a doll in “Companion,” often stands almost motionless – and is therefore probably a congenial partner for her director. In the dialogue scenes it sometimes almost seems as if models from opposite pages of a (fetish) fashion catalog are talking to each other.
Everyone gets a different film
In combination with the foggy nighttime atmosphere, this can have a soporific effect – even if an entire room full of Yakuza is transformed into a slippery bloodbath in an elaborately choreographed martial arts scene reminiscent of Refn’s “Only God Forgives”. Everyone has to decide for themselves what exactly this all means. But I can admit it straight away: When I was watching it, I was largely taken off by the film – and at least in my imagination, the majority of the audience felt that way. The interviews with the director and his four main actors the next day confirmed the feeling of thematic openness:
In each of the conversations there were sometimes directly contradictory interpretations of the work and especially the finale – and that from those who made the film together. But that’s perhaps what’s so appealing about “Her Private Hell” – that everyone in the audience is served their own private vision of hell. For me, the interviews are among the most fascinating of my short career. If you watch “Her Private Hell”, then you should definitely plan on having a beer or two together afterwards. In many cases, discussing what you see is apparently at least as fulfilling as the viewing itself.
In any case, Refn himself brings “Chewing Gum” into play as the central inspiration – and explains: “If everyone loves the film, we’ve done something wrong. If everyone hates it, we’ve also done something wrong.” At least according to this credo, “Her Private Hell” is a complete success.
Conclusion: Nicolas Winding Refn delivers a thoroughly personal and absolutely unique screen vision, but it often seems so stiff and unwieldy that it is difficult to fully immerse yourself in the nightmarish hellish opera. “Her Private Hell” is a film that is crying out to be rediscovered as a cult film in 25 years – but one that most of today’s audience will probably largely be left out of.
We saw “Her Private Hell” at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere out of competition in the official program.