Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love * * * *
Marianne is the subject of one of Leonard Cohen's most famous songs - So Long Marianne. Even though they only had a few years together it seems they felt a connection for the rest of their lives.
But director Nick Broomfield has a dilemma, in that Marianne is just not that interesting in her own right (and you sense she'd be first to agree). Indeed, after her time on the Greek island of Hydra she went back to Norway and became a secretary and then married a nice fellow and settled down to the suburban life. Though we do touch upon some very personal events, not least being the sad and disastrous life of her son Alex (Cohen was not his father). But the tragedy of his life seemed pretty much the same as every other kid that was spawned and raised by the collection of bohemian artists and writers on this idyllic island. The situation might have been good for the creative, arty, drug taking parents, but in the long run it wasn't so good for their confused free-range kids.
Like Maiden it's remarkable how much a director can stitch together from so little footage, but Broomfield has done a marvelous job, making the film fascinating from beginning to end. He fills in a lot of gaps with interviews with those that knew them; best of all are the opinions of Aviva Irving. She's highly perceptive, blunt and very funny.
Marianne was already married when she met Leonard Cohen on the island in the early 1960's. He'd gone there to write his book. But after a while he came to realise his destiny was being a singer and songwriter, not a writer. And with that, the documentary goes off on a new tangent about Leonard Cohen's life as a singer-songwriter and Marianne just fades away. Nevertheless, he refers to her as a woman he'd see for a couple of months a year, then a couple of weeks a year and then for maybe one day a year. Yet they always had a special place in each others heart.
In the meantime poor Leonard got saddled with an idiot of a manager - twice! The first one linked him up with Phil Spector and the result was the disastrous Death of a Ladies Man (by far Cohen's worse album). The same manager also decided Various Positions (possibly Cohen's best album) was rubbish and tried to prevent its release (which means we would never have heard "Hallelujah"). The second manager was just a shameless embezzler who took all of Leonard Cohen's money.
There are some funny and quite revealing scenes. I didn't know Leonard had taken so much LSD. He made Timothy Leary look straight edge. A lot of people would be a basket-case after taking the amount Cohen did, but nothing seemed to damage his magnificent mind. Thank God, otherwise we wouldn't have that beautiful legacy he left us.
He also left something beautiful for Marianne too in her passing. If you know his final words to her you will enjoy hearing them again, if not then prepare to be moved; but isn't that always the case with a Leonard Cohen song or poem?
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| It's time we began to laugh and cry... |
Like Maiden it's remarkable how much a director can stitch together from so little footage, but Broomfield has done a marvelous job, making the film fascinating from beginning to end. He fills in a lot of gaps with interviews with those that knew them; best of all are the opinions of Aviva Irving. She's highly perceptive, blunt and very funny.
Marianne was already married when she met Leonard Cohen on the island in the early 1960's. He'd gone there to write his book. But after a while he came to realise his destiny was being a singer and songwriter, not a writer. And with that, the documentary goes off on a new tangent about Leonard Cohen's life as a singer-songwriter and Marianne just fades away. Nevertheless, he refers to her as a woman he'd see for a couple of months a year, then a couple of weeks a year and then for maybe one day a year. Yet they always had a special place in each others heart.
In the meantime poor Leonard got saddled with an idiot of a manager - twice! The first one linked him up with Phil Spector and the result was the disastrous Death of a Ladies Man (by far Cohen's worse album). The same manager also decided Various Positions (possibly Cohen's best album) was rubbish and tried to prevent its release (which means we would never have heard "Hallelujah"). The second manager was just a shameless embezzler who took all of Leonard Cohen's money.
There are some funny and quite revealing scenes. I didn't know Leonard had taken so much LSD. He made Timothy Leary look straight edge. A lot of people would be a basket-case after taking the amount Cohen did, but nothing seemed to damage his magnificent mind. Thank God, otherwise we wouldn't have that beautiful legacy he left us.
He also left something beautiful for Marianne too in her passing. If you know his final words to her you will enjoy hearing them again, if not then prepare to be moved; but isn't that always the case with a Leonard Cohen song or poem?
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