The Dead Don't Hurt

Set in the 1860s, Viggo Mortensen’s second outing as writer-director (after Falling, TIFF ’20) is an elegantly realized feminist western starring Mortensen himself and Vicky Krieps as immigrants attempting to forge a life in a corrupt Nevada town.

French-Canadian flower seller Vivienne Le Coudy (Krieps) and Danish carpenter Holger Olsen (Mortensen) meet in San Francisco. Vivienne is irreverent, fiercely independent, and refuses to wed, but agrees to travel with Holger to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada. There, they begin a life together — Vivienne grows roses and waits tables at a tavern and Holger builds barns, until the couple are separated by Holger’s decision to fight for the Union in the burgeoning Civil War. Left on her own, Vivienne must fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt). Alfred's violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances.

The Dead Don’t Hurt slides between points in time, beginning near what is, in fact, the story’s chronological end. Thus, when we see Weston’s brutal encounter with Vivienne, we already know what violence he’s capable of. The brilliance of Mortensen’s narrative structure is that it frontloads the lawlessness and mayhem we expect from a western, then gradually introduces the tenderness and moral integrity that give this film its true raison d’être. Framed in a style that emphasizes the relationship between character and landscape, and infused with multiple exquisite performances, this is a portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.

CAMERON BAILEY

Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival

Content advisory: sexual violence; violence