Starring: Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly McLeod, Danny Huston, Garrett Dillahunt

Director: Viggo Mortensen
Released: 2023

Mood: If you’re tired of the unoriginal sameness of everything online these days and are desperate to see evidence that people are still creating things that are new and fresh and full of heart.

Hollywood has delivered some fine Westerns over the last few years, but nothing I’ve seen even comes close to The Dead Don’t Hurt. And maybe that’s because almost no part of this movie is actually associated with Hollywood.

• It was filmed primarily in Canada, with some scenes shot in Mexico
• The co-producers are Viggo Mortensen (USA), Regina Solórzano (Tailpot Studios, Mexico), and Jeremy Thomas (Recorded Picture, London)
• Although Mortensen’s studio, Perceval, is located in California, it’s technically a Danish company

Mortensen produced, directed, wrote, and co-starred, AND he composed the score. That is an insane amount of time and energy to put into one movie, but holy crap, did it ever pay off.

• Fun Fact #1: Aragorn’s sword from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which was gifted to Mortensen by Peter Jackson, can be spotted at the end of the movie.

The Dead Don’t Hurt isn’t like any other Western out there when it comes to cinematography and storytelling. It’s got a few flaws, but there is so much to appreciate that you just won’t believe until you see it. Spoilers ahead!

The Dead Don’t Hurt takes place in the 1860s, and ranges from San Francisco to Nevada and eventually back to California. It’s a little bit about immigrants, and the Civil war, and the trials of frontier life. But more than anything, it’s about love and life and how neither is fair, but you can’t give up because you might get to experience a few more great things before you die.

Brave, unapologetic French Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) meets Danish carpenter Holger Olsen on the docks in San Francisco. Their chemistry is so immediately palpable that it makes you giddy for these two people you’ve only just met on screen. Vivienne ditches a rich art collector and departs with Holger to his cabin in a desolate part of northern Nevada.

But it’s not long before Holger gets the itch to sign up for the Union Army, and leaves Vivienne to go see what it’s all about. While he’s gone, the violent, entitled son of a wealthy local landowner takes a shine to Vivienne, and unsurprisingly, doesn’t give a f*ck about consent.

Vivienne has to choose between walking away and starting over yet again, or standing tall and pushing forward.

Although that plot summary seems pretty straightforward, The Dead Don’t Hurt is told in a non-linear style that I fully admit confused me. I had to rewatch the first 20 minutes right after finishing it, to understand what actually happened.

• Fun Fact #2: After shooting, Mortensen did an edit of the movie in an entirely linear format to see if it would be better. But he ultimately chose to stick with this style.

To be fair, I’m painfully unobservant and usually at least a bit distracted. Other people might get the interweaving of past and present events right away. I just didn’t get there until about halfway through the movie, and only because I finally paused to look up a few things.

But that didn’t really take anything away from how much I enjoyed every single moment of the acting and the breathtaking camera work. This is the most stunning, gorgeously shot movie I have seen in as long as I can remember. I’d heard that it was good, but trust me when I say that words don’t do it justice.

In the opening gunfight, clouds of dust are lit in a way that feels like pure art. And that carries right through to the end. Director of photography Marcel Zyskind makes every single shot, from action to landscapes to quiet personal shots, feel carefully considered and treated like THE moment.

This pairs perfectly with the slow, intimate storytelling that focuses closely on the two main characters, and later, entirely on its female lead.

Mortensen told Salon, “Their stories are untold, just like the stories of little girls and women whose sons or brothers or fathers or partners go off to war, as happens in this story. We don’t usually stay with them. What happens to them? What are the consequences? What goes through their minds? And what do they have to deal with?”

The Dead Don’t Hurt is slower than most Westerns I’ve seen, front-loading the action at the start of the film and then easing into a slow beat that’s mostly about emotions and dialogue. It makes everything feel real – sometimes way too real. Don’t wait for a happy ending, because life wasn’t kind to those women.

The stellar acting in The Dead Don’t Hurt is the other reason that this movie is on a whole other level.

Vicky Krieps is PHENOMENAL as Vivienne. Truly outstanding, one of the best women in Westerns that I’ve ever seen. Her performance has such vast range – from quirky to angry, playful to broken, blunt to romantic to nurturing.

She looks the part, and she brings an indefinable authenticity to the role that I can’t imagine in the hands of anyone else. The way she plays Vivienne’s pain cuts you deeply, and her tenacity fills you with hope. It’s one of those rare masterclasses in acting, which you don’t get too often in a Western.

Viggo Mortensen is stoic but sweet as Holger, with a raggedy yet pleasingly dense moustache that’s like the hardscrabble older sibling of his cookie duster in Appaloosa.

I did want a bit more of Holger’s backstory, to understand his motivations – like WHY did he leave his happy life to go to war? It didn’t make sense. But Mortensen definitely brings a warmth to the character that is crucial to their chemistry.

• Fun Fact #3: Another actor was originally cast in the part, but dropped out early in production and apparently Krieps suggested Mortensen step in. As the scriptwriter, he was able to rewrite the lead role to suit himself, including making him older and Danish.

Every single other actor is also highly watchable, fully embodying their roles. And super-mega-bonus – you get to see FOUR Deadwood actors reunited by the 47-minute mark, which I obviously noted because Deadwood is still unmatched in Western TV.

• Solly McLeod adds a few extra levels to the despicable piece of shit, syphilis-ridden psychopath Weston Jeffries
• Danny Huston delivers yet another unique Western character, this time elegant and refined and a bit Donald Sutherland-esque as the shady mayor
• Garrett Dillahunt as Alfred Jeffries has the finest moustache in the movie, and as always he fits perfectly into the era through his physicality
• W. Earl Brown is at home behind yet another saloon bar, this time playing an even more whipped character in Alan Kendall
• Ray McKinnon makes a short but commanding appearance as Judge Blagden
• And William Sanderson makes a super brief appearance early on, giving you the second of the four Deadwood “that guy!” moments

“The dead don’t hurt” is a line from the movie, in which Holger explains to his son that a bird he shot and killed isn’t in pain.

This theme neatly explains Holger’s decision to leave Weston alive but doomed to die a slow, painful death, because he deserves to hurt for as long as possible. It also gently suggests that Vivienne is free from pain.

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about how the French Canadian, Spanish, and Danish scenes are not captioned. This was apparently an intentional choice by Mortensen. I got a bit stuck in the first flashback to Vivienne’s childhood, when everyone was speaking French, because I assumed something was broken. But once I confirmed it was on purpose, I was fine. Look, I don’t understand everything they say in Shakespeare plays, or in the high-Victorian dialogue of Deadwood, but you can get a lot from body language and other visual cues and appreciate the immersive experience.

This movie is incredibly sad, because almost all of the good guys die at the hands of the bad guys. It really showcases how the 1% were crushing everyone else, even back then. But wow, what a visual masterpiece.

Even if you like your Westerns action-packed, there is a lot here that makes it worth a watch.