Her Private Hell (also known as Her Private Hell by NWR) is a 2026 science fiction thriller film directed, co-written, and produced by Nicolas Winding Refn. Starring Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, and Hidetoshi Nishijima, it follows a troubled young woman named Elle, who searches for her father as a mysterious mist engulfs her dystopian city, crossing paths with an American G.I. who searches for his daughter.
The film had its world premiere out of competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on 18 May, and was theatrically released in the United States by Neon on 24 July. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the cinematography and production values, but criticized the narrative's pacing as sluggish and meandering.
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Plot
In an eerie, futuristic city engulfed by a mysterious mist, actress Elle returns home to the Tower Hotel. She meets her new co-star Hunter, a young influencer whose travel arrangements were disrupted by the fog. Brought to stay in Elle's family's suite, the naïve Hunter is enamored with the jaded Elle's opulent life. Elle has a strained relationship with her friend-turned-stepmother Dominique, who married her lecherous father, famed filmmaker Johnny Thunders.
The women have a fitting with sinister dressmakers Ms. S and Ms. T, who prick Elle with a pin as a sign of "good luck". Later, Johnny Thunders tells the women about the legend of "the Leatherman", a murderous spirit with diamond-encrusted gloves, who appears with the mist and can only be killed by cutting off his hands. Elle hopes the film she and her father are making will bring them closer together, but he soon departs, urging her to bury the hatchet with Dominique. Elle and Hunter witness the Leatherman murder a neighbor, ripping her chest open and throwing her out of a window.
They continue to shoot Johnny's science fiction film: Elle's character crash-lands her spaceship on a crystal planet, where she is betrayed by Dominique. Hunter stops the scene to tell them of her research into the Leatherman, perceived by some as the Devil, and "the Kingmakers", a pair of kitsune who serve as his guides. Johnny has left Elle a golden hatchet as a birthday gift, and she finds his forgotten leather jacket with a cigarette lighter belonging to Private K, an American G.I. once stationed in Japan.
Decades before, K believed the Leatherman was responsible for the disappearance of his daughter, hunting him for years. After attacking a yakuza boss and his men, K is flogged by the police as punishment. The Leatherman's kitsune, Ms. S and Ms. T, tell K that his daughter is still alive, and he must kill the Leatherman to free her. Ambushed by the yakuza, K kills them only to be drawn through a mirror into the Leatherman's ghostly, crystalline realm.
Celebrating Elle's birthday, Dominique brings her and Hunter to party with Johnny's rival, Nico. Dominique confides in Elle that she has slept with Nico, part of the understanding she and Johnny have about their marriage. She tries to repair her friendship with Elle, who kisses her, but Dominique gently turns her down, leading Elle to seduce Nico instead. Trapped in the other realm, K watches helplessly as Hunter is killed by the Leatherman.
Returning to the hotel, Elle gropes the sleeping Dominique and spitefully forces her underwear into Dominique's mouth. A vicious argument ensues and an increasingly unhinged Elle swings the golden hatchet at Dominique. The Leatherman appears, killing Dominique and pursuing Elle into the crystal realm. There, K fights the Leatherman and is nearly defeated, but Elle chops off the Leatherman's hands with her hatchet. The evil spirit vanishes, and K is reunited with his daughter, while the kitsune offer the Leatherman's gloves to Elle with the chance to "find what [she] has lost."
Cast
Sophie Thatcher as Elle
Charles Melton as Private K
Havana Rose Liu as Dominique
Kristine Froseth as Hunter
Shioli Kutsuna as Ms. T
Aoi Yamada as Ms. S
Dougray Scott as Johnny Thunders
Diego Calva as Nico
Hidetoshi Nishijima as Hayashi
Parker Sawyers as Frank
Production
After creating a pair of limited series, Too Old to Die Young for Amazon Prime Video and Copenhagen Cowboy for Netflix, Nicolas Winding Refn began work on his next feature film, his first since 2016's The Neon Demon. In an interview with Variety in August 2024, he said that he planned on shooting the film in Tokyo, with English and Japanese being the primary spoken languages of the project.
In April 2025, Neon and Refn announced the project, describing it as "something groovy", with the title Her Private Hell being revealed. It was financed by Neon and produced by Refn under his production company byNWR. The main cast was also announced, with Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton in lead roles, alongside Kristine Froseth and Havana Rose Liu. Dougray Scott, Shioli Kutsuna, Diego Calva, Aoi Yamada and Hidetoshi Nishijima was also cast.
Principal photography took place in Copenhagen over 57 days from May to July 2025. The film was in post-production by March 2026. Pino Donaggio created the original score, marking his first collaboration with Refn.
Release
Her Private Hell was presented out of competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2026, receiving between a 7 to 12-minute standing ovation. However, there were some walkouts throughout the screening, allegedly due to boredom.
It was theatrically released in the United States by Neon on 24 July 2026, with plans to be shown across 800–1,200 screens. It was ultimately shown on 675 screens. Scanbox Entertainment has scheduled the film to be released in Denmark on 15 October.
In March 2026, Mubi acquired distribution rights from Neon International for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Latin America.
Reception
Box office
It grossed $530k in its opening weekend in the United States, across 675 screens.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 104 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Intoxicating in style but saddled with pacing that feels like purgatory, Her Private Hell is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition from Nicolas Winding Refn that the unconverted will happily decline." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 44 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
In a positive review for TheWrap, Chase Hutchinson deemed Thatcher's performance her "most daring yet", comparing it to Jack Nicholson's performance in The Shining at times. He also warned viewers that if they disliked Refn's past work, they "will likely be incredibly put off and alienated by everything playing out". Jordan Mintzer from The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "NWR does give us a warning early on when he has one of his characters only half-ironically claim: 'This movie's gonna be hell.' But that doesn't make watching Her Private Hell any less hellish". He did praise the lead cast performances, cinematography, production design, and homages to classic slasher directors like Dario Argento and Brian De Palma.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "Her Private Hell is a disaster, but even that's part of its hipster factor. The film practically announces that it's too cool to be coherent".