Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Her Private Hell’ Gets 12-Minute Ovation In Cannes

Monday night belonged to Nicolas Winding Refn at Cannes and though his trippy psychedelic female ensemble pic, Her Private Hell, is playing out of competition, it spiced up the Grand Theatre Lumiere with a 12-minute standing ovation, the second such of the night after Fjord.

Those are the longest plaudits of the festival, though Refn and cast were doing some cheerleading and pumping the crowd up after the lights went up, which likely prolonged the celebration. Star Sophie Thatcher was moved to tears. Note, we begin timing ovations at the start of clapping when the credits roll all the way until the end.

Refn in a near three minute speech at the end shared how he was dead for 25 minutes (due to a heart surgery).

“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,” said Refn to laughs.

He gave a shoutout to 90-year old composer Pino Donaggio who was present.

Refn turned political: “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.”

The runners-up ovation-wise at this point in the festival are James Gray’s Paper Tiger, which last night got a 10-minute salute, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, which on Friday had them clapping for 11 minutes.

The movie stars Sophie Thatcher, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth and Charles Melton in a tale that begins at a swanky futuristic LA-like metropolis hotel. A group of model-esque women congregate, about to make a Barbarella-like sci-fi movie. But a killer by the name of Leather Man lurks.

Refn won Best Director in his Cannes debut for his 2011 Ryan Gosling Hollywood heist movie Drive which starred Albert Brooks playing against type as a villain, Carey Mulligan and a fresh-face Oscar Isaac. Pete Hammond reported at the time that Drive clocked an epic near 15-minute standing ovation.

NEON has domestic on Her Private Hell. A trailer dropped today for the pic which hits theaters on July 24.