Her Private Hell is polarizing and perverse, but never dull

It's been ten years since Nicolas Winding Refn released his last film, The Neon Demon. During that time, the Danish director has worked on various streaming series, including Too Old to Die Young on Amazon Prime and Cophenhangan Cowboy on Netflix. His new feature film, Her Private Hell, is a visually stunning movie set in a futuristic world shrouded in mist. Narratively, the film is a bit of mess and perverse as hell. It'll certainly be polarizing for audiences, but it's gorgeous to behold on the big screen.

The movie stars Sophie Thatcher as Elle, an actress obsessed with her father, Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott). To say there's some Freudian stuff going on in this movie is an understatement. There's a lot of daddy issues for Elle, though the source of them is never fully explored. Meanwhile, she has a rivalry with her stepmom, Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), who only looks a few years older than Elle. The women compete for Johnny's love and attention, and they also have their own strange and erotic relationship going on. Johnny leaves the women in the beginning of the movie for a time, hoping they'll bond on the set of a cheesy sci-fi movie with an early 1960s look and vibe.

Yet, there's an ever-present danger in the form of Leatherman, who stalks and kills young women in gory fashion. Private K (Charles Melton) is on the hunt for the villain, since he killed his daughter, and the narrative shifts back and forth between K's relentless quest for revenge and the world of young starlets who often indulge in wild and kinky parties. There are a few great action scenes where K takes care of business and hacks and slashes whoever stands in his way.

That said, Her Private Hell often elevates style over substance, narrative, and characterization. There are eye-popping visuals throughout this feature, with constant cotton candy hues and splashes of gore that resemble 1970s giallos in their artistry and vibrancy. This is one gorgeous looking film that often feels like a sugary high. Besides impressive visuals and set designs, Thatcher gives a great performance and really ratches it up, leading to an unhinged final act for her character. She's increasingly exciting to watch in feature-length films and likely has a long career ahead of her. Liu is good as well, essentially playing an evil stepmother character. In fact, she calls herself such at one point in the film. That said, most of the characters feel hollow and a bit too flat, other than perhaps K, who at least has motivation for what he does. And while the Leatherman looks cool as a villain, there's not much to him either, other than a constant threat to young women and maybe a thin metaphor for the devil.

Her Private Hell also oozes sexual tension, including within a twisted family, and Refn isn't afraid to touch the taboo. There's even a scene where Elle and Dominique make out and quite a raunchy sex scene later on with a bad boy named Nico (Diego Calva). It's a perverse film and certainly not for the prude, but again, some of it feels like style over substance more than anything else.

Her Private Hell is one of the most dazzling films released so far this year. However, as a whole, the film is a bit of a mess, a lovely looking mess, but still a mess. Still, there's enough here, including Thatcher and Liu's performances and Refn's willingness to test an audience's limits, that makes this worth a watch. After ten long years, the Danish director returns with a film that's sure to make a lot of people uncomfortable.

Her Private Hell is currently in theaters.