The Dead Don't Hurt
1860s, The Western frontier U.S.A. The story of two outsiders - Danish immigrant Holger Olsen and French-Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy - who meet in San Francisco and embark on a passionate relationship. Settling in a small Nevada town, their newfound contentment is upended when the Civil War breaks out and Olsen signs up, leaving Vivienne to fend for herself among the corrupt and violent town leaders.
Directed and starring Viggo Mortensen, this takes the atmosphere of the Western and flips the genre using a non-linear narrative structure. Mortensen (Olsen) and Vicky Krieps (playing the fiercely independent Vivienne) have extraordinary chemistry and create an authentic and understated romance. It is beautifully shot with wide landscape vistas that also feel very intimate.
Directed by Viggo Mortensen and starring Viggo Mortensen, Vicky Krieps, Solly McLeod, Colin Morgan, Danny Huston and Garret Dillahunt
Festivals:
Glasgow Film festival 2024
Toronto International Film Festival 2023
‘Featuring excellent performances from its two leads, the film is a Western for people who don’t like Westerns’
Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
‘’Mortensen’s script tussles between feminist revision and old-school male showdowns, imagining Vivienne as a Joan of Arc-inspired frontierswoman yet subject to the degradations of the era.’