HER PRIVATE HELL

Her Private Hell is Nicolas Winding Refn doing a parody of his own films. There’s even a few direct callbacks to Only God Forgives.

Only God Forgives / Her Private Hell

Only God Forgives / Her Private Hell

If you don’t like post-Drive Refn, this movie is not for you. It’s almost as if Refn used every negative critique of his work over the years as an inspiration for his latest project. This is his slowest movie to date. There’s tons of neon lighting and homages to his favorite filmmakers. 

And the thing is...I’m not even mad at it. I will not recommend this movie to anyone. I barely know what it’s even about but I enjoyed this in a guilty pleasure kind of way.
In a dystopian future, a young actress trying to find her father crosses paths with a violent soldier trying to find his daughter. Beyond that, this is kind of a feature length perfume commercial where the pretty imagery trumps the plot (the city that the story takes place in is plagued with a mysterious gas that fogs the city 24/7).


Instead of the typical reference points like Michael Mann, Williams Friedkin, Dario Argento and more - he references the likes of Kenneth Anger, Mario Bava, Kubrick and his mentor Jodorowsky. To be fair, Anger has always been a reference point for Refn but, outside of Ryan Gosling posing in the Scorpion Jacket in Drive, no one ever seems to highlight that except me (click here to read more)…

I’m not a film analyst but most of the things we do nowadays, also in advertising, lead back to Kenneth Anger’s work - Nicolas Winding Refn, Indiewire

Fireworks / Her Private Hell

Scorpio Rising / Her Private Hell

Scorpio Rising / Her Private Hell

Planet Of The Vampires / Her Private Hell

Planet Of The Vampires / Her Private Hell

Planet Of The Vampires / Her Private Hell

Vampyr has always reminded me of a mysterious dream I once had when I was very little. The film has always stayed with me. I watch it before I make every film - Nicolas Winding Refn, Criterion

Vampyr / Her Private Hell

Unique, brilliant, fantastic! I love this movie! - Nicolas Winding Refn on Tokyo Drifter, Criterion

Tokyo Drifter / Her Private Hell

A Trip To The Moon / Her Private Hell

Seeing The Shining is like watching a painting of pure terror. It has no purpose, sexuality or function other than to completely terrorize you - Nicolas Winding Refn, Moviemaker Magazine

The Shining / Her Private Hell

2001... / Her Private Hell

I offered to read the tarot for him [REFN] and from then on he had me read his tarot every time he made a new movie - Alejandro Jodorowsky, Vulture

The Holy Mountain / Her Private Hell

Refn does kind of reference Mann but instead of typical stuff like Manhunter and Thief, he pulls from The Keep.

The Keep / Her Private Hell

This could also be seen as a reference to everything from Demons to The Fog

The Fog / Her Private Hell

The Fog / Her Private Hell

Demons / Her Private Hell

I'm hesitant to compare anything even slightly weird to David Lynch, but Refn is a fan and there are some very specific Lynch-isms in Her Private Hell

film is such an early medium in a way. You know what I mean? If you go through the history of painters, you can always say that somebody was inspired by someone to do that or to do this, and of course, it's the same thing with film. Every art form is an exchange to someone else, whether it's generational, whether it's of an experience, of an opportunity - Nicolas Winding Refn on influence of David Lynch, nrftsjournal

Inland Empire / Her Private Hell

Wild At Heart / Her Private Hell

This indiewire article from a few years ago serves as a nice companion to Her Private Hell (click here).

If anything, this was just an excuse for Nicolas Refn to make a movie collage of his inspirations (which gives me an excuse to make a bunch of side-by-side comparisons to share). Maybe the specific references or the execution - but I’m really not bothered by it. I like it. And I completely understand why most people don’t like this and think the movie is pointless. I get it.