I realize that the Western genre has fallen out of fashion (case in point – just check out some of the early reactions to Kevin Costner’s upcoming frontier epic “Horizon” which just premiered at Cannes). Sure, there are those rare exceptions. But they often consist of cynical deconstructions or genre mashups. As for the more traditional Westerns, they just aren’t in demand these days and frankly that’s a shame.

I’ll admit to being a little picky when it comes to them, but I really enjoy a good Western. And Viggo Mortensen gives us a good one with “The Dead Don’t Hurt”, a uniquely intimate and heartfelt drama set within the margins of an old-fashioned movie Western. Mortensen stars, writes, directs, produces, and even composes the score for this distinctly character-driven feature that manages to embrace the old while still feeling quite new.

Mortensen opens his film on a shocking note that gives us a candid look at where things are heading. We see an ailing woman named Vivienne (Vicky Krieps) lying on her deathbed, sharing her last words with her husband, Holger (Mortensen). It’s a somber beginning that adds an air of tragedy to the story about to be told. From there Mortensen transports us back to the moment the couple first met, and for the rest of the way he employs this flashback/flashforward technique, uncoiling his story in a way that challenges his audience yet rewards them as well.

Set in pre-Civil War 1860, Danish immigrant Holger Olsen sits on a dock in San Francisco where he had ventured to see “the end of the world”. There he catches the gaze of Vivienne Le Coudy, an unassuming yet independent French Canadian woman who just happily gave the boot to her rich and insufferable fiancé (Colin Morgan). The modest but playful Vivienne is immediately drawn to the quiet and ruggedly handsome Holger. Their mutual attraction soon turns into a full-blown romance which Mortensen handles earnestly and grounds in authenticity.

As their relationship grows, Vivienne agrees to ride away with Holger and start a life together at his remote Nevada cabin which is notable only for how strikingly plain it is. “This is the place you chose?” Vivienne asks in a playfully prodding manner (one of many wryly funny lines that Krieps absolutely nails). In one of several flashbacks within a flashback, we learn that Vivienne was a florist and she wastes no time putting her skills to use, planting, sowing, and bringing her own vibrancy to their homeplace.

But their tender love story takes a fateful turn when Holger, almost on a whim, answers the call to join the Union army. As he heads off to war, Vivienne is left alone to tend to their home, all while haunted by memories of her father who left in a similar way and never returned. She gets a job at a saloon in nearby Elks Flats, a small frontier town ran by its corrupt mayor, Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston). In reality, he’s nothing but a lapdog to a greedy land baron named Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt).

But the film’s biggest villain is the baron’s psychotic son, Weston (Solly McLeod). With his father constantly turning a blind eye to his violence and cruelty, Weston terrorizes the townsfolk and eventually takes a fancy to Vivienne. The horror that follows draws Holger’s impulsive decision to enlist more into question and makes the revelations awaiting him once he finally returns even more visceral. Surprisingly, these weighty events never quite lead to the kind of emotional reckoning you might expect. It doesn’t damage the ultimate payoff, but their feelings upon reuniting are still a little confounding.

Mortensen’s character-focused script works well with his patient and tactful direction, resulting in a movie that embraces elements of the classic Western but never makes them its focus. His nonlinear narrative can make things a little harder to follow than necessary, but it also cleverly contrasts multiple compelling facets of his story. On the screen, Mortensen steps aside and makes Krieps the centerpiece, surrounding her with the picturesque lensing of cinematographer Marcel Zyskind. Krieps steals the show, bringing grace, fervor, and spirit to a type of powerful female role we don’t often see in movie Westerns. “The Dead Don’t Hurt” releases in select theaters on May 31st.

VERDICT – 4 STARS