Review: Hot faces fill the erotic thriller 'Her Private Hell,' but the plot is never in focus

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Set us as preferred The irony of Neon giving Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest erotic noir a wide theatrical release is that “Her Private Hell” will be some moviegoers’ public one.Both times I’ve seen it, a fraction of the audience has walked out.

This, I suspect, suits Refn just fine.To him, mass appeal is for rubes.What turns him on is cryptic babes, brawling men and stagy fables of lust, rivalry and possession.

Unpopulated nightclubs as empty as a cemetery at midnight.Hermetically sealed tableaux of haughty models daring you to look away from their perfection.

You cannot apply logic to his work — every choice thumbs its nose at the real world — and I rarely like the overall result.But I can’t help admiring Refn’s commitment to the bit.

As one person in the new movie sneers, “Eww, who wants to be relatable?”“Her Private Hell” is an expressionistic sci-fi fantasy set in a skyscraper hotel that stretches into the clouds.It’s equally fair to call it an art video destined to be projected on the backdrop of a dance floor.

Let’s play along with the former for the sake of the cast, who are deeply committed, to their own peril.Elle (Sophie Thatcher) lives in the penthouse with her father, Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott), and young and glamorous stepmother Dominique (Havana Rose Liu).The ladies were once best friends until they became family.

Now, their bond is complicated.They exchange a lot of loaded stares.

They also sometimes communicate in barks.Movies For its 15th anniversary, ‘Drive’ director Nicolas Winding Refn looks back on working with Ryan Gosling, shooting in L.A.

and some surprising influences.Here’s where I confess that after two watches, I’m still hazy on the plot.The whole film is hazy — literally — with plumes of mist rippling through soundstages so st...