The Dead Don’t Hurt

The independent French-Canadian Vivienne falls for Danish immigrant Holgar in 1860s America. Together they create a life in a remote cabin in Nevada, managing to resist the difficulties posed by the nearby town and its corrupt, domineering landowner and his violent son.

When the American Civil War breaks out, Holgar feels it’s right for him to enlist in the Union Army. Vivienne objects as he’s an immigrant, telling him it’s not his fight. But Holgar departs anyway. Ever resilient, Vivienne continues on in his absence. But a brutal encounter with the landowner’s son exposes her to the harsh realities of the American frontier, leading Holgar to return to an irrevocably changed home.

Viggo Mortensen writes, directs, and stars in this character-driven Western about two people with pioneering spirits who won’t let the tough environment of the American West stand in the way of them living their lives in their own way.

“A Western that hits many of the expected beats but which does so in an unexpected manner, being centred on a tender, loving relationship rather than gunplay and grit.” Empire

“scratch below the dust and the grit of what passes here for 1860s Nevada and Mortensen’s film reveals itself to be a quietly unconventional spin on this time-worn genre.” The Guardian

“delivers moving measures of the genre’s beauty, brutality, and sorrow” The Daily Beast

“It wouldn’t be a Western if it didn’t include some kind of showdown, and “The Dead Don’t Hurt” gives us one that is bloody and satisfying without being what you’d expect.” TheWrap

15: strong violence, sexual threat