Nicolas Winding Refn Returns to Film With Her Private Hell

Director Nicolas Winding Refn has returned to feature filmmaking after a decade-long hiatus with his new project, Her Private Hell.

The director, who previously directed the 2016 film The Neon Demon, spent the last ten years focusing on streaming series, including the thirteen-hour production Too Old To Die Young.

Refn’s return to the big screen follows a health crisis during which he was clinically dead for 25 minutes due to a leaking heart valve. “God gave me a second chance!” Refn stated regarding his recovery and the subsequent vitality he brought to his new work, as reported by artechock.de.

The film is set in a futuristic neon-drenched metropolis and follows Elle, played by Sophie Thatcher, an actress and daughter of the wealthy Johnny Thunders, portrayed by Dougray Scott. Elle stars in a fictional comic book adaptation titled Candy Floss, alongside her stepmother Dominique, played by Havana Rose Liu.

The plot is complicated by the presence of a serial killer known as the “Leather-Man,” who haunts the city’s fog-filled streets in search of his missing daughter. The film features a parallel timeline inspired by Yakuza cinema, which follows a character named Private K, played by Charles Melton, who is also searching for his daughter.

Refn continues his move toward abstraction, replacing traditional character arcs with motivic structures and visual symbolism. The film utilizes recurring patterns of reflections and doublings, with the city itself acting as a central character that shapes the narrative rhythm rather than a linear plot.

The production’s aesthetic is defined by a clash between modern neon design and elements of space opera and gritty crime film. Composer Pino Donaggio provided the film’s score, which contrasts the director’s futuristic visuals with classical musical structures.

Throughout his hiatus, Refn expanded his artistic output by founding his own streaming service, byNWR, directing commercials for Prada, and collaborating on Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding video game series. His new film integrates these diverse experiences into a singular, highly stylized experience.

The film avoids a clinical approach to its themes of death and trauma, choosing instead to lean into the aesthetics of exploitation cinema. According to artechock.de, the film functions as a self-questioning, spiritual complex that relies on intuitive understanding from the audience rather than causal explanations.

Is the Leather-Man a single, defined character? While the character is played by actor Jason Hendil-Forssell, the film leaves his identity and presence ambiguous. His role is mirrored by other characters, such as Johnny Thunders and Private K, who share similar motivations and ritualistic traits.

Pino Donaggio’s score serves as a structural framework for the film.

It provides a classical counterpoint to the extravagant, futuristic visuals and dictates the pacing of the narrative.

Refn has described the film as a result of his recovery from a near-death experience involving a heart valve issue. He views the project as a manifestation of a “second chance” and a renewed creative vitality.