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Refn's Her Private Hell will be released in theaters on July 24

Teasing Nicolas Winding Refn's Her Private Hell.

The reviews for Her Private Hell are savage, even apologists for Only God Forgives and Neon Demon seem to hate it.

The Curious Sofa wrote: Wed May 20, 2026 7:07 am The reviews for Her Private Hell are savage, even apologists for Only God Forgives and Neon Demon seem to hate it.

Not this one. For me, its negative buzz makes it that much more intoxicating.

Even before I clicked on the link, I suspected it was going to be Peter Bradshaw. An endorsement from him rarely is a good sign as far as I'm concerned. I was hoping that Refn would make another film that I liked but I thought his last two films were already bafflingly awful (I skipped the TV series), so I doubt I'll become a cheerleader for this. The only thing that could tempt me to give this a shot is a score by Pino Donaggio.

Her Private Hell:

Please offer thoughts once you've seen it. Despite lovely lighting, composition, and a terrific score, I found it baffling overall. I got the feeling right away that this was NWR's attempt at creating something Lynch-like, and almost no one can do that. NWR does not prove to be an exception to that rule. Though, I would love to be persuaded otherwise.

I won't be persuasive in that direction. Her Private Hell feels like weirdness for weirdness' sake, Refn pushing the boundaries of his aesthetic until there's no more space for narrative flow. Not even Charles Melton being inherently awesome can save this film. I can't help but wonder if it was more of a miniseries in his mind - like his last two projects, one of which was successful, the other less so - since the confounding 'story' felt neglected with excisions and therefore vacuous. Not that I wanted more of this or anything!

therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2026 10:22 pm I won't be persuasive in that direction. Her Private Hell feels like weirdness for weirdness' sake, Refn pushing the boundaries of his aesthetic until there's no more space for narrative flow. Not even Charles Melton being inherently awesome can save this film. I can't help but wonder if it was more of a miniseries in his mind - like his last two projects, one of which was successful, the other less so - since the confounding 'story' felt neglected with excisions and therefore vacuous. Not that I wanted more of this or anything!

I can't believe that I lucidly sat in the same room with this film and came away with so little appreciation for anything Refn was doing - I usually enjoy his work quite a bit more than the median viewer. But this was complete and utter nonsense, not rooted in any kind of reality or even absence of it. Horribly wooden dialogue (if you thought The Neon Demon or Drive had somewhat stilted dialogue, this is on another planet), a plot that is ... I'd say it was confusing but that would be too much of a compliment. It's just nonsensical and exhausting. And a visual style that doesn't offer the usual respite that it does in his other films... the movie looks like a Prada ad at best and an amateur film at worst (any coincidence that 'the fog' obscures most of our view of the set design?). What the fuck even was this movie? Talking about it is making my head hurt.