Refn’s Her Private Hell Opens Friday After Divisive Cannes Debut

Overview

• The film, directed and co‑written by Nicolas Winding Refn, opens in select theaters on Friday and has no streaming window announced.
• Reviews are sharply split: The Globe and Mail called the movie incoherent and dull while the San Francisco Chronicle praised its cinematography, production design, costumes, fight choreography and score.
• The story interweaves two strands — an actress, Elle, navigating a misty, nightmarish city and an American soldier, Private K, hunting for his kidnapped daughter — without clear, conventional plot explanations.
• Composer Pino Donaggio, 84, came out of retirement to score the film, and Refn has said his serious 2023 medical emergency helped inspire the project.
• Refn’s established track record of polarizing, style‑forward work and the film’s limited theatrical rollout shape expectations for who will see it and how it may fare with audiences and awards voters.