Vicky Krieps is a name probably not known to many, but it should be. Krieps is a Luxembourgish-German actress who consistently delivers complex and witty performances in a range of different types of films. Sit to watch Phantom Thread (2017, Paul Thomas Anderson) and you’ll find a wholly dissimilar Vicky Krieps from who you see in Corsage (2022, Marie Kreutzer) or Bergman Island (2021, Mia Hansen-Love). 

I continue to be surprised by how she takes the material provided and moulds it into her own through performance, something that is often hard to achieve. For instance, in The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023, Viggo Mortensen), Krieps is the central woman in a Western film. On paper her place there seems like a fish out of water, a European actress using her own accent in a Western? Even as a fan of hers, I went in hesitant, but in actuality she provides a much-needed balance and substance to the story. That dedication to morphing characters who appear out of place, into having sovereign is what keeps me coming back to her marvellous filmography.  

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