Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's thriller Her Private Hell will open in Ukrainian cinemas on September 3, 2026.
The film is distributor Arthouse Traffic's latest theatrical release in Ukraine and marks Refn's first feature length project in ten years. It held its world premiere in the official competition program at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where critics from The Guardian likened the feature to a nightclub in hell and writers at The Wrap highlighted its visual aesthetics.
Refn is a Danish filmmaker best known for directing the 2011 action thriller Drive and the 2016 psychological horror film The Neon Demon. The Cannes Film Festival is held annually in France and serves as one of the film industry's premier international events.
Near death experience in Tokyo
The concept for the story emerged from a personal medical emergency. Three years ago, Refn suffered a 20 minute clinical death caused by heart complications, an event that led him to rethink both his personal life and artistic direction.
Refn explained that his desire to return to his younger daughter, who was not ready to let him go, evolved into the story's main arc about an American soldier. He stated that the soldier represents his own alter ego as a father attempting to push through the afterlife to save his child.
Visual style has long served as Refn's signature feature, but the director pushed the aesthetic elements further in this production. He noted that he has completely avoided capturing real life on camera ever since working on his crime film trilogy Pusher.
The film takes place in a fully constructed, dreamlike metropolis set in a futuristic Tokyo bathed in neon lights and dense mystical fog. In the film, drizzle functions as a physical presence connecting different realms while signalling the arrival of a demonic killer in a world where reality exists only as fragmented memories.
Fragmented storytelling and cast
Refn deliberately rejected standard linear structure in favor of a fragmented narrative format. He traced the idea back to a childhood memory of rapidly switching channels on an old television, where random clips from unrelated shows combined in his mind to form a single impression.
The narrative runs two parallel storylines throughout its runtime. One follows the soldier searching for his daughter, while the other centers on the personal struggle of a young actress named Elle who attempts to break away from a toxic family environment after her father marries her former friend.
Working alongside co-writer Elsti Jordani for more than a year, Refn combined elements of neo-noir horror, opera and melodrama to create the impression of several distinct movies existing within a single film frame.
Despite the non-linear structure of the finished film, production took place strictly in chronological order. The production team rewrote the script on set every day to reflect the mood of the crew and ideas from the actors.
Members of the production crew joked during filming that no one knew in the morning what kind of movie they would end up shooting by the evening. Refn compared the filming process to painting on canvas, where an initial idea is taken apart and rebuilt during execution.
To find performers who could handle continuous improvisation, casting directors Courtney Bright and Nicole Daniels reviewed thousands of audition tapes submitted from across the globe.
Leading roles and horror score
Sophie Thatcher stars as the actress Elle. Thatcher, recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, previously appeared in the films Heretic, Companion and Prospect, as well as the television series Yellowjackets.
Following festival screenings, reviewers at Cineuropa called her performance the most emotional work of her career, while writers at The Wrap praised the boldness of her onscreen transformation.
Golden Globe nominee Charles Melton plays the soldier. Known for roles in May December and Warfare alongside the series Riverdale and Beef, Melton was spotted by Refn while the director's daughter was watching Riverdale. Seeing Melton in 1950s style convinced Refn that he had found his lead actor.
The supporting cast includes Diego Calva, known for his roles in Babylon, Narcos: Mexico and The Night Manager, alongside Kristine Froseth from the series The Buccaneers.
Operatic score by Pino Donaggio
The film's score was composed by 84 year old Italian composer Pino Donaggio, known for scoring Brian De Palma's horror film Carrie and Dario Argento's classic titles Two Evil Eyes and Trauma.
Music played continuously on set during production, as Refn deliberately removed dialogue to let the score act as the central narrator. Refn brought Donaggio into the project during the editing phase to achieve an operatic scale.
Donaggio stated that he wrote the largest amount of music of his career for Her Private Hell, ranking the work alongside his best compositions for De Palma. Critics at Deadline called the soundtrack incredible, while reviewers at Next Best Picture described it as hauntingly beautiful.
