Cannes 2026: Her Private Hell Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Ten years ago, writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn premiered his previous film ‘The Neon Demon‘ at the Cannes Film Festival with polarized reactions. Undeniable that Refn has strayed towards a realm of stylish surrealism, his noticeable absence from the silver screen allowed him the opportunity to explore such divisive techniques into television with ‘Too Old to Die Young’ and ‘Copenhagen Cowboy,’ where he is bestowed these patient runtimes to flesh out his storytelling and characters. His homecoming to the festival is filled with cautious optimism, with many wondering if he has the ability to emulate the critical acclaim that flooded ‘Drive’ into becoming a staple of contemporary film culture.

His return to the festival with Her Private Hell has resulted in an inevitable breaking point that even apologists like myself can no longer ignore for Refn’s filmography. The film builds this ambiguous futuristic world where Refn impedes himself from further developing beyond this giallo-inspired narrative that looms over these female characters. The dynamic between Elle (Sophie Thatcher) and Dominique (Havana Rose Liu) is stagnant throughout, as this friendship turned step-mother/daughter relationship struggles to find any semblance of progress besides a constant reminder of an absentee father that troubles this overprivileged daughter. Such entitlement gets illustrated through jealousy, emotional spirals, and includes disturbing behaviour that is downright unnecessary for the story – even by Refn’s standards. Despite this repetitive cycle of relationship progression/regression, Thatcher and Liu provide immense amounts of cheeky fun to the imperfect characters presented to them.

Complementing this circling of exposition is the inclusion of a second storyline highlighting an American soldier, Private K (Charles Melton), who takes on the yakuza and quests to rescue his daughter from hell. Melton’s scenes keep the audience engaged through his stoic portrayal and persistent aura farming whenever he isn’t getting involved in beautifully shot martial arts sequences. Regretfully, such scenes are the only ones keeping Refn’s stylistic choices fresh outside this flawed screenplay. The integration of vibrant colors and Pino Donaggio’s score filled with romantic whimsy elevate such sequences to create this fever dream of a final product where both storylines collide in the most senseless way possible, leaving audiences baffled by the conclusion. This clear contrast between both storylines appropriately serves as a concussive punchline for curious minds wondering what Refn has up his sleeve and such explanations of plotlines are really up for interpretation.

Overall, Her Private Hell is a clear indicator that Refn has finally reached his limits of filmmaking. The use of vibrant colors, a romantically whimsy score, meticulously choreographed fights pop incredibly throughout the film per Refn’s routine style. However, his writing efforts – alongside co-writer Esti Giordiani – results in his most antagonizing story yet, as Refn needs to find a proficient screenwriter to complement his beautiful style. With Drive being the only film he hasn’t written in his filmography, it has become more evident over time that Hossein Amini’s screenplay was just as integral to the film’s cult following as Refn’s methods.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Costa Christoulas

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