'Her Private Hell' Will Be Heaven to Some, and Hell to Others
A free-trial humanoid replica tests the couple’s grief and exposes tensions over whether synthetic life can replace a dead child.
- Director Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest film follows a grieving couple, Otone Komoto and Kensuke Komoto, who welcome a humanoid robot as a replacement for their deceased son, Kekaru.
- Otone Komoto, struggling with the loss of her son, Kekaru, accepts a free trial of a humanoid replica from the REbirth corporation while her husband, Kensuke Komoto, reluctantly agrees.
- The humanoid, played by Kuwaki Rimu, fails to replicate the real Kekaru's high energy and food-loving nature, leaving Otone feeling empty while Kensuke bonds with the robot over baseball.
- Critics have panned the film for its 'misguided kumbaya-with-AI approach,' noting it fails to address corporate greed or privacy concerns, lacking Hirokazu Kore-eda's typical emotional depth.
- Ultimately, the film avoids condemning AI, instead attempting to reconcile nature and technology, leaving the narrative hollow by prioritizing awkward co-existence over meaningful examination of replacing loved ones.
19 Articles
19 Articles
‘Her Private Hell’ Review: Nicolas Winding Refn Returns With a Hypnotic, Inscrutable Neon Fever Dream
Nicolas Winding Refn considers his first feature film in ten years, Her Private Hell, a resurrection. At the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, the filmmaker revealed that his return was inspired, in large part, by his own mortality. His need to create art kicked into overdrive after beating death in 2023, when his heart stopped for 25 minutes. Her Private Hell is pure art, too, bearing the filmmaker’s neon and synth signatures, as well as …
Why Nicolas Winding Refn Had to Die Before He Could Make ‘Her Private Hell’
When I ask Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish director of “Drive” and “The Neon Demon,” where his latest film, the dazzling, phantasmagoric “Her Private Hell,” came from, he says that he died. He’s wearing a black Prada shirt and is seated in front of a wall with a large painting on it. He’s in a New York hotel. Or maybe a conference office. “I’m sitting in front what looks like the hand of God opening a book, so it’s all very mysterious,” Refn sa…
‘Her Private Hell’ Director Nicolas Winding Refn on Ignoring Critics, Why the Government Must Regulate AI and Planning His Third Film With Ryan Gosling
Director Nicolas Winding Refn breaks down his new movie 'Her Private Hell,' how he reacts to online criticism and working with Ryan Gosling again.
The Danish director, met on the occasion of Fantasia, comments on his hyper-stylized cinema and his relationship to time.
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