Viggo Mortensen returns to cinemas with Until the end of the world. The actor presents his second directorial film after his debut in A fall in 2020. After this drama, the director turns to the Western genre, revising the point of view without changing the classic structures. The film has already appeared in cinemas and Mortensen took the opportunity to present it in the first person.
“I like this genre. I grew up with it, like other children of my generation. It was normal, not like it is now. When I was a kid you saw them on TV, there were a few TV series that were Westerns and you could go to the cinema and it wasn’t as unusual to watch once in a while as it is now,” he admits. Viggo Mortensen in an interview given to Hipertextual.
“But it also seemed appropriate to me to tell the story of a free woman, an independent thinker, a headstrong woman, very much her own,” she then discovers, foreshadowing the great feature Until the end of the world. The main character in the film is Vivienne (Vicky Krieps), a woman who leaves with a man for the American West, but is left alone when he goes off to the battlefield. “I thought that by placing her in this genre in the 19th century, on the frontier of North America, in the West, in a lawless society dominated by a few unscrupulous, cruel and cruel men, it would be an even greater challenge for these types of women. And I thought it was interesting,” says the director.
Female look
“It’s completely different that we have an ordinary woman of her time as the main character. She is not a superhero, not a villain or a bandit, she is an ordinary woman. To a certain extent, with everyday courage and decency. And it is very unusual to stay with her when her male partner goes away to fight for a long time,” he insists. Viggo Mortensen.
“I wanted to explore that within that genre. What happens to a girl, to a woman, when her father, her brother, her partner, her son, for example, go to war. Little or nothing of this was shown. What consequences does it have for them when it happens,” the film’s screenwriter. Until the end of the world.
“I wanted to say something believable at that moment. Being a woman and in this society, physically she is not going to impose herself. But no one is going to take away what she thinks, what she feels,” she explains. Thus, her Western does not position her as a woman ahead of her time and capable of fighting men toe-to-toe on a physical and brutal level. On the contrary, it does this by imbuing its protagonist with enormous resilience and the ability to overcome all odds.
So, for example, after the attack in the next scene Until the end of the world, Vivien He prefers to look his attacker in the eyes. “This is one of the most important moments for the character Vickyfor this Vivienne Le Coudy. Wordlessly, she faces him and doesn’t shy away from him. Instead, he’s someone who shrinks a little. She wins this psychological confrontation,” he says. Mortensen.
Vicky Krieps, force of nature
“You may dream of doing it, telling it, showing it, but if you don’t have an actress as formidable as Vicky there is a limit. You might not be able to look at this picture of her for that long if the actress doesn’t have that kind of inner strength. Fortunately Vicky said that she told us “yes”, and we were able to show her and her heroine in the film,” the director thanks, realizing that it is his partner who bears the greatest burden Until the end of the world.
“Above all, she is honest and humane, she is not perfect,” he defines Crips to his character. “But that’s what I like about him. And the film is feminist because, as in Rebel Empress, a woman is allowed to be complex, even an idiot. You’re doing it wrong here too. But we follow her. She’s not particularly strong, but we follow her because she’s human,” the translator adds.
Actually the main character Until the end of the world He thinks it’s the look he’s talking about. Viggo Mortensen which is the whole spirit of the character. “That’s what I try to do in all my films. This is the true power of women. You can embrace your vulnerability rather than hide it. You can sit in it, look them in the eye and say, “Yes, you can break me.” , but I will break you.” You can destroy me, but I will continue to look at you. The victim’s face will look at the bad person.” ” she says. Crips.
Life learning
Viggo Mortensen He was a film director for only a few years. But as an actor, he worked with the greatest cinema masters and starred in such legendary films as Lord of the Ringswhere he gave life Aragorn. All these experiences shaped his vision as a director. “Well, everything that I have experienced in life itself as a person, since childhood, and all the movies that I have seen and participated in have helped me,” he admits.
One of the lessons he learned was to use landscapes as an important ingredient in conveying certain feelings or messages. IN Until the end of the worldthe director depicts grandiose places of the desert and Mexican prairie, in which a person becomes tiny. “I like being outside, I like nature. And it’s true that I participated in many filming. As a photographer, I was interested in how people photograph in remote places, sometimes in very strong sun. Seeing how this is solved visually through photography,” he says.
“I discussed this in detail with Marcel Ziskind, our director of photography, long before shooting. I want to follow the codes of the classic Western. I want to tell this visually, without paying much attention, if possible at all, to how the camera sees these landscapes. Being there as a spectator, I feel like I am there. See the heroes of these landscapes, look at all the details, enjoy. That is, a simple photograph, apparently because it is not easy to take. But simply and elegantly, as the filmmakers did Howard Hawks, Budd Boetticher or other masters of the genre,” he lists. For him, following these patterns and references was important to respecting this type of cinema.
Once you make your western with Until the end of the world, Viggo Mortensen He also confirms that he already has his next goals in mind. “I’ve written a few stories and it mostly depends on where I find the money. One of them is an Argentine story that I would like to film there. But it depends, I don’t know, who knows,” says the director. A future we will have to be attentive to.
Source: Hiper Textual
