Her Private Hell is baked with fame, grime, all sorts of bodily fluids, grief, desire, violence and anger. All these things work alongside each other to explore the mystical connection of yearning to purge your trauma and be free. Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest is perverse but tender, a touching, operatic quest for love and to be seen. 

Nicolas Winding Refn died and came back to life; for anyone this would be an experience that would change how you view what comes next. As an artist and a parent, Refn was given the ultimate refresh on what should come next. Storytelling for any artist has always been personal but for Refn Her Private Hell feels entirely personal; it acts as a hallucinatory fairytale of sorts about the weight of fame, chasing a high in life, and the silent suffocating guilt of a parent. The story may fall flat for some, as is the norm with Refn’s work, but for me, Her Private Hell is an odyssey of love, hate, disgust and resurrection through guilt. It’s evoking everything that works about folklore and silent films all set within that neon tinted world we love so much from Refn. 

What has always drawn me to the work of Refn is his commitment to understanding fairytales as an artform; they’re one of the oldest forms of storytelling in that folklores transcend the structure of storytelling as they feel both intellectual and childish; they’re easy to understand but the possibilities of where they can go have no bounds. With each film, he’s captured this idea of a new world where you’re not questioning the why or how of what is happening, it’s just accepted if you are on board with the world Refn has created. Tapping into the magical bounds of fairytales has allowed any of the horrors of his films have a beautiful terror, not even just because of the glitter and rhinestones but the belief of their lore. In Her Private Hell, there’s a serial killer, Leatherman, who feels baked in from your mind yet it’s completely understandable the palpable fear each character feels for him. The belief of his existence, his motivations, and the purgatory he lives in all feel real in the context of what Refn is showing us, never directly telling us. 

It’s not truly a movie of point A to point B as much as an exploration of how you surrender to what you understand to be the themes Refn is lingering on. The narrative structure within his worlds are there but his art has always been more about his themes baked into the visuals and haunting performances from his actors. Her Private Hell is an uncompromising fever dream baked with psychosexual family dynamics, the yakuza, fathers longing for daughters and daughters longing for fathers. The lush, intoxicating visuals are overwhelmed with dizzying eroticism, violence, melodrama, and surrealism that feels intoxicating. Refn has always had a way of making you feel like you’re drowning and floating at the same time and through the performances in this film, it’s impossible to ignore that weighted but freeing emotion. 

Refn has always been ahead of the mainstream curve featuring electronic film scores but in Her Private Hell, he truly leans into the giallo inspiration not just through visuals or story cues but with the legendary Pino Donaggio composing a traditional orchestral score. It’s easily the best score of the year that feels overwhelming and puts you in the dream state that makes you feel like you’re swooning despite the gore and violence on screen. It’s helplessly romantic and grand to counter the overwhelming sense of fear and terror through the visuals and story. The operatic and melodramatic cues of the film are only uplifted by this brilliant work from Donaggio, proving he will always be one of the best. The score is completely matched on the highest of marks by cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck who creates the dreamiest visuals, no matter how much violence is within them. The fairytale is brought to life in a neon tinged, transcendent framing where you feel both overwhelmed with dread of what is lurking but a fantastical state. 

Sophie Thatcher has this ability to be both vulnerable and vicious with the same look. As a daughter torn desperate for her father’s both attention and love, she’ll do anything at this point to achieve it, and she’s filled with her father’s worst qualities. Thatcher is given the space to allow her complex, hard-to-understand character, Elle, just simply be, which makes the character that much more interesting and as an actor, deliver her most impressive performance to date. Her performance is heightened by her chemistry with friend-turned-stepmother played by Havana Rose Liu, in the most dizzying, transcendent fashion. Liu is unreal here as she commands the screen with this doe-like innocence that you believe yet when she needs to be commanding and challenging, you’re effortlessly overwhelmed. She’s always been great but this is next level, you can’t take your eyes off of her. It’s impossible to know if you’re scared of her, turned on by her, or a mix of both; the type of delicious role an actor dreams of and Liu rises to the occasion. Refn has always found the most unsuspecting actors to pair with until you see the performances he gets out of them and you see he finds those who understand his vision so deeply. Charles Melton is an actor I was not personally familiar with until May December, but his performance in Her Private Hell is not only career best for him but one of the best of the year. He channels that silent movie star expressionism with the brimming violence and anger of an action star. Every moment he’s on screen cements why he was someone born for the big screen; it’s not just how beautiful he is, and boy does Refn know how to capture that, but it’s how magnetic he is. You feel his pain, his loss, his consuming desire to find his daughter. A parent’s grief and guilt is such an important take away in this film and Melton is able to convey the overwhelming emotions that come with those feelings with a single glance or a slow walk. Diego Calva is a minor character in the film but his presence once on screen is intoxicating. He’s the perfect slimeball that you immediately feel his grime, his lack of regard for social structures and his burning sexual desire that would be deemed immoral by most. Calva is one of the most consistent actors working but he’s staggering here, it’s a performance that took root under my skin and really hasn’t left.

For me, Her Private Hell was a film about fathers of daughters and daughters of fathers. The constant ‘daddy’ usage may appear to some as only a sexual device but the constant push and pull of the masculine and the feminine yearning to belong throughout the film pushes the connection of pining for family. Everything pairs back to daughters and fathers. Leatherman is searching for his daughter. Private K is searching for his daughter. The yakuza and men they’re mixed up with are abusing daughters, preventing these fathers from finding their peace. Elle is desperate for her father. Her step-mother doesn’t know if she wants a father or a daddy. Even the other girls in the film all just want someone, a daddy or a father. All while Johnny Thunder will tell the story of Leatherman and pay attention to these women, anyone but his daughter Elle. The pain displayed through Private K’s longing for his daughter paired with Elle’s yearning for her father’s affection feels piercing and overwhelming. This second chance at life through Refn’s eyes, is it for art? Is it for family? Can it be both? For Elle and Johnny Thunder, we’ll never know if it can be both or if they even want both. 

Her Private Hell is baked with fame, grime, all sorts of bodily fluids, grief, desire, violence and anger. All these things work alongside each other to explore the mystical connection of yearning to purge your trauma and be free. Refn’s latest is perverse but tender, a touching, operatic quest for love and to be seen. 

Grade: A+

Oscar Prospects:
Likely: None
Should Be Considered: Best Supporting Actor (Charles Melton), Best Original Score, Best Cinematography

Where to Watch: In Theaters