Viggo Mortensen’s second feature is an unconventional western buoyed by the powerful presence of its lead, Vicky Krieps (Corsage, MIFF 2022).

In San Francisco in the mid-19th century, Danish immigrant Holger falls in love with French Canadian flower seller Vivienne, whisking her back to his cabin in remote Nevada. But a wallflower she is not. Vivienne makes improvements to their shared home and has taken a job at a local saloon when Holger signs up to fight in the Civil War, leaving her behind in a town besmirched by corruption. In his absence, she’s pursued by the lecherous Weston, son of the corrupt mayor’s shifty business partner. What will become of these star-cross’d lovers upon war’s end?

On top of masterfully incarnating Holger, Mortensen wrote the screenplay and composed the score of his second foray into directing (after 2020’s Falling). Though a western in setting and style, the film ingeniously transcends traditional genre tropes: it is told largely from the perspective of the strong-willed protagonist inspired by Mortensen’s mother, Vivienne (played by an impressive Krieps); the central romance unfolds in nonlinear fashion; and flashbacks are a regular occurrence. Shot in both Mexico and British Columbia, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a finely tuned, formidably humane account of frontier life during a formative time in US history.

“A rich, rewarding and fully fleshed-out drama … with the kind of role in which Krieps excels.” – Screen Daily