The Dead Don’t Hurt – Film Review

Director – Viggo Mortensen
Writer – Viggo Mortensen
Stars – Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly McLeod

Viggo Mortensen holds dual American and Danish citizenship. He was born in New York City but was raised mainly in Argentina and Denmark. While it is unusual for a man with such a background to be fascinated by the Western genre, it is true in this instance, even if this is closer to a period piece than a traditional Western.  If you stay until the very end of the film, you’ll see Viggo’s name appear five times, as he is listed as writer, composer, producer, director and lead actor of this piece. Even Kevin Costner doesn’t write the music for his Western epics!

We meet Holger Olsen (Mortensen), a Danish immigrant who has recently arrived in the United States in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is trying to escape the advances of her current man, a wealthy dandy played by Colin Morgan (who hails from Northern Ireland and unusually plays the part with an Irish accent). Holger soon catches the eye of Vivienne and she follows him to a small frontier town where the two start a new life together. Vivienne gets a job in a local Saloon, which is partly owned by a dangerous individual called Weston, played by Solly McLeod.

While Viggo Mortensen is nominally the lead actor of the piece, there are long sections where Vicky Krieps is the main emphasis. Krieps is known for her performance in Corsage and also the Phantom Thread. She’s a Luxembourgish actress born in 1983. She plays an interesting role in this film, with a mischievous grin and a formidable presence throughout. In the hands of another actress, the film may have struggled but she lights up the screen. It’s a piece that may fall between two stools as not many want to see a love story combined with a Western, but the two main performers really give something special.