Refn's 1st Film in 10 Years Flops at Cannes as 'Her Private Hell' Is Branded Storyless
Updated
Updated · Variety · May 20
Refn's 1st Film in 10 Years Flops at Cannes as 'Her Private Hell' Is Branded Storyless
5 articles · Updated · Variety · May 20
A decade after “The Neon Demon,” Nicolas Winding Refn returned with “Her Private Hell,” and the Cannes review calls it a critical disaster built on style without a coherent story.
The film centers on Elle at the Tower Hotel and a parallel hellscape with Private K, but the review says those threads never fuse into characters or narrative despite lavish sets and Pino Donaggio’s sweeping score.
Sophie Thatcher, Kristine Froseth, Havana Rose Liu, Dougray Scott and Charles Melton lead a cast the critic says is filmed more like fashion models than dramatic figures, undercutting the movie’s emotional stakes.
The review argues Refn has drifted far from the conventional storytelling that powered “Drive” and the “Pusher” trilogy, recycling shocks and Lynch-like imagery into what it portrays as empty provocation.
After a Cannes ovation and brutal reviews, can Refn's divisive new film actually find an audience?
Is Refn’s near-death experience the key to understanding his baffling and controversial new movie?
With its distributor facing lawsuits, what is the real future for Refn's polarizing film?