The Dead Don’t Hurt
Vicky Krieps shines in Viggo Mortensen’s second feature as writer/director, a low-key, female-centric Western set during the Civil War.
Vicky Krieps
Not all actors who turn to directing make a good job of it but when Viggo Mortensen made that move in 2020 with the drama Falling it was a triumph. The fact that in addition he also wrote the screenplay, composed the music and acted in it himself made the achievement even more remarkable. Now with The Dead Don't Hurt he attempts to duplicate that success even to the extent of taking on the same number of duties. In the event this film strikes me as a less effective work although it is certainly an endeavour to be respected. Ironically, The Dead Don't Hurt is overshadowed by another film made by an actor-turned- director who wrote the screenplay and took a leading role. I refer to The Homesman which was made by Tommy Lee Jones in 2014. However, the most relevant factor linking these two films is the fact that they could both be categorised as westerns but are nevertheless uncharacteristic of the genre due to making central the experience of women settlers exposed to all the rigours and dangers of life in the wild West.
The Dead Don't Hurt starts its main narrative in San Francisco in the 1860s but most of the story plays out in Elk Flats, Nevada. The two main characters are Vivienne Le Coudy, an independent-minded French Canadian played by Vicky Krieps, and a Danish immigrant settled in America and working as a carpenter: this is Holger Olsen, the role taken by Mortensen. We see how they meet, come together and eventually marry, but it also becomes clear that Elk Flats is not a healthy place since it is under the sway of its mayor, Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston), who conspires with a powerful local rancher, Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt). Not only are these people that it is dangerous to cross but the risk is greater still because Jeffries has a son, Weston (Solly McLeod), a crazy man with a propensity to turn violent.
Having made a comparison with The Homesman it is also important to point out one key difference between these films. The Homesman viewed the bravery and suffering of women in the West in the 1870s including its heroine played by Hilary Swank in a story that presented them as part and parcel of the film’s central narrative. In contrast, The Dead Don't Hurt combines two elements of a markedly different character: it's both a love story and the kind of western drama which ultimately becomes a tale of vengeance. Mortensen cleverly alerts the audience to this dual perspective by a pre-credit sequence which illustrates the split. He does this by showing the end of the love story at the outset, a tender scene with Holger at the bedside of the dying Vivienne and then cuts to the saloon run by Kendall (W. Earl Brown) where violence flares.
This somewhat unorthodox introduction also prepares us for a film which readily breaks away from telling its story in chronological order. Flashbacks and memory shots were also a feature of Mortensen’s Falling but they fell into place more naturally there. Nevertheless, even if this format can be a trifle distracting and confusing in the early scenes here, we soon adjust to it. What it means is that scenes of Vivienne's childhood can be incorporated alongside the story of her growing relationship with Holger Olsen while this material is also intercut with substantial scenes that take place after her death and which turn the tale of corruption into one which sees a final violent stand-off between Olsen and Weston Jeffries.
The decision to tell the tale with so much intercutting is perhaps a sign that the story is one that is not readily suited to fully effective screen presentation even if, as here, it is aided by fine wide screen photography by Marcel Zyskind, the apt music score provided by Mortensen and able acting from the whole cast. In this connection, Solly McLeod is effective albeit playing the familiar figure of an all-out nasty while Danny Huston is more original in making his villain so soft-spoken. As expected, Mortensen is thoroughly reliable but does not hog the screen and gives Vicky Krieps not only top billing but the opportunity to be the beating heart of the film. As director he gives proper impact to a war-time scene when, with Holger fighting for the Unionists, Vivienne suffers rape by Weston Jeffries. At the same time this episode is handled so as to avoid any sense of it being exploitative. Vivienne remains a strong woman throughout always fighting in her own way, but I am not persuaded that it was a good idea to incorporate images from her childhood in which she imagines Joan of Arc and finds in her the inspiration to exhibit strength.
Sympathetic as this film is, the approach adopted by Mortensen is less than wholly successful and, if the love story lies at its heart, it has to be said that as told – and despite the excellent performance by Krieps – it is not quite as touching as one would hope. At 129 minutes there are times when the film feels to be on the slow side and it is the case that in the last stages the focus is on the action, the confrontation between Holger and Weston being well staged but lacking the more individual qualities found earlier. As though realising that, Mortensen carries on after that climax proceeding to a final scene facing the ocean, but it doesn't carry the weight that it should. Nevertheless, none of these defects prevents The Dead Don't Hurt from having much to commend it and I'm pleased to have seen it. Furthermore, its strengths are sufficient for one to hope that Viggo Mortensen will consider giving us further films on which he is writer, director and composer.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly McLeod, Garret Dillahunt, W. Earl Brown, Danny Huston, Shane Graham, Rafel Plana, Colin Morgan, Alex Breaux, Jason Clarke, Atlas Green, Nadia Litz.
Dir Viggo Mortensen, Pro Viggo Mortensen, Regina Solórzano and Jeremy Thomas, Screenplay Viggo Mortensen, Ph Marcel Zyskind, Pro Des Jason Clarke and Carol Spier, Ed Peder Pedersen, Music Viggo Mortensen, Costumes Anne Dixon.
Talipot Studio/Recorded Picture Company/Perceval Pictures-Signature Entertainment.
129 mins. Mexico/Canada/Denmark. 2023. US Rel: 31 May 2024. UK Rel: 7 June 2024. Cert. 15.
