The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023) is a beautifully crafted Western that serves as actor-director Viggo Mortensen’s second feature film. Mortensen, who also wrote the script and composed the music, delivers a sombre and meditative take on the classic frontier genre, shifting the focus from gunplay to a powerful, tragic love story.

The film is set in 1860s Nevada and centres on the relationship between Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen), a quiet Danish immigrant and carpenter, and Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps), a fiercely independent French-Canadian flower seller.

Their connection is immediate and palpable, leading them to build a life in a remote cabin near the corrupt town of Elk Flats. Krieps, in particular, is the magnetic heart of the movie, portraying Vivienne with a realistic mix of spirit, toughness, and vulnerability that defies the usual Western clichés.

Mortensen employs a non-linear narrative structure, constantly skipping between past and future. The film opens near Vivienne’s death, then weaves back in time to show how she and Olsen met, his morally driven decision to fight in the Civil War, and the terrible consequences of her being left alone in a town dominated by the brutish and entitled local villain, Weston Jeffries.

This fractured chronology is an arthouse sensibility that, while sometimes confusing, ultimately lends the story a poignant, mournful quality.

More than just a love story, The Dead Don’t Hurt functions as a “feminist Western,” focusing deeply on Vivienne’s resilience and her struggles against the chauvinism and corrupt power structures of the Old West. While the pacing is notably slow, the film is visually stunning, showcasing the vast, isolating beauty of the landscape.

Mortensen’s subtle direction, coupled with the authentic performances and his melancholic score, elevates the film from a simple revenge plot into a ruminative portrait of survival and human connection in an unforgiving world.