The Dead Don't Hurt: love blooms in 'handsomely crafted' western
Viggo Mortensen writes, directs and stars in second feature film

Viggo Mortensen doesn't just star in this "sinewy, sombre, handsomely crafted" western. He is also its director, its writer and the composer of its score, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. "With almost anyone else", the result might be a self-indulgent disaster, but Mortensen has a "self-effacing and even reticent quality" on screen that "works against that danger".
He plays Holger Olsen, a Danish immigrant in 1860s America who lives in a cabin he built himself near a frontier town in Nevada. One day, during a visit to San Francisco, he meets "the frank, unabashed gaze" of Vivienne (Vicky Krieps), a French-Canadian flower seller. The pair become a couple; but when Olsen decides to join the Union army and goes off to fight the civil war, Vivienne is left to fend off the attentions of a predatory local official.
The world the film evokes is one of "cynicism, brutality and bad faith", but the love between Olsen and Vivienne "blooms like a miraculous flower"; and Krieps and Mortensen's "rapport is just right: romantic, besotted with each other, and yet tough and without illusion".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Krieps (who was so good in 2017's "Phantom Thread") reminds us what a "talented and beguiling actress she is", said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. And even if the way the story shifts back and forth in time is a bit befuddling, this is a strong piece of cinema.
Some may find that the film takes a slow and "circuitous route to get to the killing we know is coming", said Alistair Harkness in The Scotsman. But this non-linear plotting enables Mortensen "to put an intriguing female perspective on a traditionally masculine genre", in a film that teases out "a truer sense of the complexities involved in trying to make a go of life on the frontier than we're used to seeing in westerns".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - March 29, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - my way or Norway, running orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 tactically sound cartoons about the leaked Signal chat
Cartoons Artists take on the clown signal, baby steps, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Adolescence and the toxic online world: what's the solution?
Talking Point The hit Netflix show is a window into the manosphere, red pills and incels
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 welcoming recipes for cooking and baking during your spring days
The Week Recommends You want it flavorful, and you want it exciting
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Snow White: Disney's 'earnest effort to meet an impossible brief'
Talking Point Live-action remake of Disney classic is not the disaster it could have been – but where's the personality?
By The Week UK Published
-
Don McCullin picks his favourite books
The Week Recommends The photojournalist shares works by Daniel Defoe, Lesley Blanch and Roland Philipps
By The Week UK Published
-
6 breathtaking homes in capital cities
Feature Featuring a glass conservatory in Atlanta and a loft library in Boston
By The Week US Published
-
Spring's best new cookbooks, from pizza to pastries
The Week Recommends Pizza, an array of brownies and Cantonese-American mash-ups are on the menu
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Playhouse Creatures: 'dream-like' play is 'lively, funny and sharp-witted'
Anna Chancellor offers a 'glinting performance' alongside a 'strong' supporting cast
By The Week UK Published