Third film directed by Viggo Mortensen, but only the second released in France, “Until the End of the World” is a western with classic precepts, but with a daring form.
France Télévisions – Culture Editorial
Published on 05/01/2024 3:40 p.m.
Reading time: 3 min Vicky Krieps and Viggo Mortensen in “At the End of the World” by Viggo Mortensen (2024). (METROPOLITAN FILMEXPORT)
The American actor-director of Danish origin happily surprised with Falling in 2020, a story of a family in search of a haven of peace for a declining father. There is also talk of a quest in Till the end of the world, where the discovery of a still virgin continent and the creation of a family would merge. But to the horrors of pioneer life is added a competition in which anything goes to gain land, and therefore power.
At the crossroads of tradition and modernity, like many excellent recent westerns, Till the end of the world travels to theaters from Wednesday May 1st.
In the 1860s, Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen), a Danish immigrant, became involved with Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps), of French origin, who agreed to follow him to his ranch in Nevada, where he intended to settle his family. When he decides to enlist to fight the Confederates during the declaration of the Civil War (1861-1865), Vivienne finds herself alone and confronted by Rudolph Schiller, the corrupt mayor of the city, and Alfred Jeffries, a large Lander owner. The latter’s son, Weston, continues to harass her with insistent advances, until violence breaks out. When Olsen returns, both have changed and must relearn each other.
Starting from classic subjects, the town put under the yoke of a gang and revenge, Viggo Mortensen uses it as the backdrop for an everyday western. He opts for a realism where the dusty saloon is often deserted, where Vivienne paints the interior of her new, freshly built house. He gardens, and prepares and shares meals with Olsen. The same goes for the other characters. The pioneer who became sheriff does not pretend to show heroism without being a coward, but by managing the crises of adulthood and Schiller’s hold on the city as a state of affairs. Until the day Weston Jeffries crosses the red line.
A dream from the Middle Ages
The heroism is, however, present in the first image of the film, and which returns three times, like a dream. That of a medieval knight in armor going up the path of a forest, the origin of which we will learn later, coming from Vivienne’s reading of a book on Joan of Arc as a child. This knight is the image of Olsen who will take on the skin of the hero to avenge the outrage suffered by his wife. Very meticulous in the treatment of his characters, Mortensen is less so for the rivals of the couple, very square in their role of predator, like archetypes of the western.
It is in the treatment of time that Till the end of the world earns its stripes as a great film. The medieval reminder introduces a construction which constantly juggles with the past, the present and the future, by linking flashbacks and flash-fowards, without ever losing us, while requiring the attention of the viewer. This very beautiful montage, inhabited by images from which the dust of the dirt tracks seems to escape, with the robust interpretation of its actors (marvelous Vicky Krieps), serving a well-oiled scenario, carries the viewer away until the end of the film.
The poster for “At the End of the World” by Viggo Mortensen (2024). (METROPOLITAN FILMEXPORT)
The sheet
Genre : Western/Drama
Director: Viggo Mortensen
Actors: Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly McLeod
Pays : Mexico/Canada/Denmark
Duration : 2h09
Sortie : May 1, 2024
Distributer : Metropolitan Films
Synopsis : The American West, in the 1860s. After meeting Holger Olsen, an immigrant of Danish origin, Vivienne Le Coudy, a resolutely independent young woman, agrees to follow him to Nevada, to live with him. But when the Civil War breaks out, Olsen decides to enlist and Vivienne finds herself alone. She must now face Rudolph Schiller, the corrupt mayor of the city, and Alfred Jeffries, an important landowner. Above all, he must resist the advances of Weston, Alfred’s brutal and unpredictable son. When Olsen returns from the front, he and Vivienne are no longer the same. They must learn to know themselves again to accept themselves as they have become…