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Her Private Hell review

Cannes film festival: Refn’s film eludes definition as it moves through time and space, from doomy reality to strange dream worlds populated by quasi-Lynchian characters

Her Private Hell review

TL;DR

  • The film is a new fantasia moodscape by Nicolas Winding Refn, presented at Cannes.
  • It transitions illogically between different settings, including a hotel in a dystopian city, the creation of a fictional movie, and a postwar Japan scenario.
  • Characters are described as quasi-Lynchian, with strange nicknames and a dreamlike landscape.
  • The film is less violent than Refn's earlier movies, characterized by a slow, doomy pace.
  • Key characters include Elle (Sophie Thatcher), Hunter (Kristine Froseth), Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), Nico (Diego Calva), Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott), and an American soldier (Charles Melton).
  • The film resists interpretation and appears to leave behind a sense of unspoken sadness.