The Dead Don’t Hurt is a charming Western film that follows the lives of two lovers living in Northern Nevada. The film, entirely created by Viggo Mortensen, follows the loving companionship of a French immigrant, Vivienne (Vicky Krieps), and a Danish cowboy immigrant, Holger (Mortensen). This feels like an unusual premise for a Western film but its slow pacing and subdued atmosphere is captivating. All appears peaceful in their world, however, when the Civil War breaks out, Holger enlists to fight, leaving Vivienne to fend on her own.
The Dead Don’t Hurt aims to set itself apart from the established gun-slinging shoot first ask questions later Western films. While it carries many of the tropes we expect from a Western film, it significantly lacks the violence and action that we are so accustomed to. For that reason, The Dead Don’t Hurt won’t be lauded. It will be called slow and perhaps even dull by some but in defence of Aragorn, the true king of Gondor…. I mean Viggo Mortensen, I think that is kind of the point. Mortensen is cut differently from most people in the film world and this is the serving of his take on the frontier life of the mid-1800s America. His take is that for 90% of the time, life was dull and hard. Much of the movie is focused on Vivienne doing what most people did at the time… Not much; look after the horses, garden, work, and care for the house. This distinct lack of horse chases and hangings means there is a lack of action in The Dead Don’t Hurt. But what it lacks in action, it makes up with honest story-telling and accurate historical authenticity. Of course, I am no expert on the Wild West, but I think in most scenarios, life was like that; devoid of horse thieves and buffalo hunters that kill the men and steal the women every day. Most of our lives are like this now…At least I hope.
The foundations of The Dead Don’t Hurt are really with the scenes without Mortensen. Vicky Krieps’s role as Vivienne is simply beautiful. Her performance as a very independent and strong woman is steadfast and compelling. You immediately grow empathy for her as soon as she is on screen. You feel her loneliness as well as her resolute nature when she encounters problems. What we see in Vivienne is strength overcoming adversity after even more adversity. Krieps’ performance showcases an incredible array of emotions that seep into you as the audience. It is such a shame that this film didn’t have a budget akin to a Disney-made movie because, with enough eyes on Krieps’ performance, she would deservingly receive more accolades.
In all honesty, I watched this movie over four sittings across a whole month. Shame on me, yes. But I consider myself lucky that in time I want to watch this again and in just one evening. The reason for bringing me back is Vivienne. No, not because I am in love with her or there are any cheeky sex scenes. It’s because Krieps’ performance was so profound.
What makes The Dead Don’t Hurt so unique among other Western films is the focus on a woman’s story. The male-dominated cowboy heroics are swept away to focus on a woman fighting to survive alone in a very hazardous environment. Further, she is a migrant as is Holger. This gives a refreshing dynamic as we see young America through their eyes, showing both their eagerness to be a part of a new and exciting nation as well as their shock for the debauched nature of the frontier. Both leads are written as real people and don’t fall into the stereotypical Western characters. For instance, Holger isn’t emotionally cut off or rageful. He opens up, he is softly spoken. Again, The Dead Don’t Hurt is authentic.
Earlier this year I slammed Chris Pine for undertaking a project where he was the writer, director, producer and star. Viggo Mortensen has done the exact thing in The Dead Don’t Hurt. I still stand by my opinion that a multi-pronged beast such as a feature film should be created by a team of people rather than one individual, Mortensen’s lone attempt is significantly better than Pool Man. It still could have had more hands sculpting this film to give it a bit more panache at times but I have to acknowledge the talent of Mortensen for his work. Not so much for the writing, directing or even acting, those were all fine. It’s the music. He composed and recorded the soundtrack from typical instruments from the time period. The music alone is impressive and adds tremendous weight to the story.
Overall, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a very good film and it is for the patient ones.
Ok… There’s a bit of violence….