‘The Dead Don’t Hurt’ movie review: Viggo Mortensen’s sophomore effort is a western with heart
Viggo Mortensen has returned to the director’s chair for the first time since his debut drama Falling arrived back in 2020. Mortensen’s sophomore effort is a romantic western by the name of The Dead Don’t Hurt and sees Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps, Solly McLeod and Danny Huston star alongside the director, who also impressively wrote and produced the film as well as composed its score.
Taking place in the 1860s amid the tension of the American Civil War, Mortensen plays Danish immigrant, former military serviceman and admirable carpenter Holger Olsen. In San Francisco, he meets and falls in love with French-Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy, played by Krieps, a hardened woman who breaks off her previous relationship with a wealthy and pompous know-it-all.
The Dead Don’t Hurt occurs in a non-linear fashion, so there are some hints at the beginning that allude to the kind of tragedy that may befall Olsen and Vivienne. For the most part, though, Olsen establishes himself as a hardworking man of Scandinavian origin with an honourable view of the world, while Vivienne details her refreshing independence in a Western cinematic world usually devoid of such feminine individuality.
A touching and honest, if occasionally awkward, love story ensues, only for it to be disrupted by Olsen’s sudden decision to heed the call to join the Civil War battle. Throw in some admittedly stereotypical Western narrative cue points, the draped-in-black villain played by McLeod, who takes advantage of Vivian in Olsen’s absence, the Dane’s subsequent need for revenge upon his return, a crooked town mayor, and frequent showdowns at the local saloon bar where Vivienne finds gainful employment, and one might worry that Mortensen leans too closely to the genre’s longstanding tropes.
In that light, The Dead Don’t Hurt is certainly nothing new, but it doesn’t really try to be anything other than what it is, namely, a classic-nodding romantic Western movie with shades of revenge, and a thoroughly entertaining one at that. Cinematographer Marcel Zyskynd captures genuinely stunning natural shots filmed in Ontario, British Columbia and Mexico that might as well be from the 4K restorations of the great works of John Ford, Howard Hawks or Sergio Leone, genuinely impressive without being overly showy or self-gratifying, which could be said of the film in general.
Simply, Mortensen’s sophomore directorial effort is quiet enough to allow for the introspection of its characters and the sharing of the personal tragedies but exciting enough to actually retain interest. Sure, it’s not going to blow any houses down or reinvent the genre in any way, but it seems certain that the director has no intention of doing so. In fact, what the Lord of the Rings actor really seems to have his mind set on, this early into his career, is to tell moving stories and to tell them well, and in this consideration, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a success.
Both Mortensen and Krieps provide their characters with enough nuance to make them both believable and actually likeable, while McLeod’s edging on villainous melodrama doesn’t detract from his equally commendable effort. Flashbacks and flashforwards also help to piece together the wider emotional puzzle of Olsen and Vivienne’s somewhat complex emotional relationship, including Vivienne’s passion for the Joan of Arc story and their personal respective losses during childhood.
At some point, Mortensen might have his eye set on a bigger scale film, but there’s an honesty in his early work, much like the carpentry of Olsen himself: measured and carefully attended to, without enough risk to prompt failure. With The Dead Don’t Hurt, he’s delivered a welcome entry into the contemporary historical Western, an entertaining and solid second effort in the director’s chair.
