129 minutes – Western, Drama, Relationships,
Language: English, French, Spanish
Festival release date: September 8, 2023 – Toronto International Film Festival (World Premiere)
Release date: TBA
Production companies: Talipot Studio, Cameo Film Fyn, MStudios, Motor, Tonestyrelsen
Distributor: Hanway Films

The Dead Don’t Hurt, a United States-Mexico-Canada-Denmark coproduction, is described as “an elegantly realized feminist western,” and is set in the 1860s. Vicky Krieps stars as the fiercely independent French Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy, who embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant carpenter Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen). They meet in San Francisco but travel together to Elk Flats, Nevada where they begin a life together — Vivienne grows and sells roses and waits tables at a tavern and Holger builds barns. But their life together is threatened when Holger decides to fight for the Union in the American Civil War.

This is Mortensen’s second feature as writer & director. He made his directorial debut in 2021 with Falling, which he also wrote and produced.