Nicolas Winding Refn goes political after Her Private Hell receives 12-minute ovation at Cannes: ‘When politicians…’

Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn became the talk of Cannes 2026 with his psychedelic female-led film, Her Private Hell. The film, starring Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton, was screened out of competition at the Grand Theatre Lumiere, where it received a rare 12-minute standing ovation after Fjord, reported Deadline.

Her Private Hell at Cannes 2026

Refn and cast became the highlight of Monday night as the crowd cheered after the lights went up. Lead actor Sophie Thatcher was reportedly moved to tears following the reception.

Considering ovation timing from the moment the credits began rolling until the applause finally ended, the film received a 12-minute standing ovation, as per Deadline.

About Her Private Hell

Her Private Hell stars Sophie Thatcher, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth and Charles Melton.

Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada and Hidetoshi Nishijima are part of the film in supporting roles.

According to Variety, Refn's film revolves around a tortured movie star who has daddy issues. As she struggles to come to terms with her father marrying her best friend, a mysterious man known as The Leather Man, is out on a killing spree, targeting young women and ripping them apart. This is when a man embarks on a journey to find and kill the Leather Man after his daughter goes missing.

Nicolas Winding Refn's political speech at Cannes

Refn's speech at Cannes has also surfaced on social media. In his over three-minute speech at the end, he talked about how he was almost dead for 25 minutes due to his heart surgery.

Nicolas Winding Refn said, as quoted by Deadline, “That changes you. When I was brought back to life with electricity, that I’m alive again; I only have 25 years of my life to live. But I’m going to make damn use of that to live life to the fullest. To make this film again and be back at Cannes where I came from is a huge step for mankind.”

He gave a shoutout to the 90-year-old composer Pino Donaggio, who was also attending the screening.

Refn also took a political jibe and commented on ongoing global conflicts. He said, “When all the politicians f**ked up the world, and blown up all the countries and stole all our money, the only thing that’s left is art."

"Now that everything is so unequal, and everyone is fighting and yelling at each other, the only thing that brings everyone together is going to the movies, sitting together and seeing a movie. That’s why we need to make cinema. Now because we can watch cinema on a f**king iPhone –I do that– because cinema is about coming together as a collective experience which is what human beings do. Yeah, we’re just human beings. So this year one, day one, cinema is the future, cinema is alive, it’s resurrected.”

Her Private Hell release date

Her Private Hell is backed by Neon, which is best known for winning Cannes’ Palme d’Or every year since Parasite.

Meanwhile, Her Private Hell will have a theatrical release in the US on July 24.