Sydney Film Festival Review - The Dead Don’t Hurt

 

“Why do men fight?”

Stark, restrained, and subtly romantic, The Dead Don’t Hurt features some stunning visuals and stoic performances, but struggles with structural issues and uneven pacing, delivering a gentle Western that’s almost too gentle to leave any lasting impression.

Discussion Points:

Viggo Mortensen wrote, directed, produced, composed and stars in this gentle Western that focuses on a Danish soldier and French woman whose subtle love story on the frontier is punctured by local corruption and cruelty. Vicky Krieps is the heart and soul of this film, delivering a deeply powerful, yet restrained and empathetic performance whilst Viggo delivers stoic work. This is very much a character driven story, and Vivienne is a fantastic character, but sadly gets occasionally sidelined to the film’s detriment. Visually the film is gorgeous with some beautiful use of lighting, and stunning natural vistas. The films non-linear structure sadly doesn’t fully work, and the end result feels messy and overlong, poorly paced at times, and too gentle to leave a lasting impression. Unfortunately, The Dead Don’t Hurt also doesn’t do much to set itself apart from other Westerns and frontier films, feeling too flat and familiar.