Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Released: 2026
Before I saw the film at EIFF 2026, I heard that it has been a huge flop at Cannes and that people absolutely HATED it. Now that I’ve seen it myself – Mr Refn, get behind me, I am your strongest soldier.
A hypnotic neon thriller with (possibly) supernatural twist with influences of Refn’s bestie Hideo Kojima as well as David Lynch.
The story plays on two parallel fields. In one, Elle (Sophie Thatcher) is an actress pulled into psychosexual “threesome” between her own father and his new mistress (and her best friend) Dominique. In parallel, we follow the story of Private Kay, an American soldier stationed in Japan who is looking for his kidnapped daughter and tries to get a revenge on human traffickers.
The key to understanding the story is to realise it is an abstract film about incestuous sexual abuse. Whether you will interpret some themes as supernatural or multiple personality disorder, it is up to you but as soon as you realise it is about girls’ sexual abuse, everything just clicks. Even the title then makes complete sense!!!