Episode 731 - Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love (2019)

Hi everyone!

We’re closing out the week with another entry in our series, Under the Kanopy. Kanopy is a library and university funded streaming service that grants card holders six free streams a month, featuring a combination of classic, mainstream, independent, and international films. They currently have streaming deals with some of our favorite distributors, like A24 and Kino Lorber, which offer the critically acclaimed, if not commercially successful films.

Today’s film covers one of my favorite artists, both while growing up, and in retrospect as I have time to learn about him. Leonard Cohen was a Canadian writer, probably best known for his musical work, and especially a track called “Hallelujah”, which was used in almost hilarious fashion in Zach Snyder’s WATCHMEN. Today’s documentary looks at his time with early muse Marianne Ilhen, and the development of his music during their time on the isle of Hydra in the 1960s, long before heartache, depression, and disease crept in throughout his life. I’ll have my thoughts on MARIANNE AND LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE in a moment. For a few other films in this same series, check out HAVE A NICE DAY (Episode #724), TO DUST (Episode #717), and TRANSFORMER (Episode #710).

Before the review, we’ll have a promo from the Top 5 from Fighting podcast. Every episode, Greg and Mike discuss a wide range of topics, and when they disagree, you know they’re gonna fight about it! Always fun, but always contentious, you don’t want to miss a single episode. You can find them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @Top5forFighting. They have been some of our biggest supporters from last year. Shout out to their Marketing Angel. You know who you are!

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Here we go!

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Today’s movie is MARIANNE AND LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE (2019), the documentary film from long-time documentarian Nick Broomfield. The film follows the troubled relationship between writer/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen and his muse, Marianne Ihlen, from their meeting on the isle of Hydra to their ultimate breakup over Cohen’s obsession with his musical career.

No spoilers.

We have a tradition in our household of giving books to each other for Christmas. I try to find a book or two for One Movie Spouse and One Movie Spawn, and they try to do the same for me and each other. I have a list of books I’m always looking for, which I send along ahead of time. But Amy always tries to find a book that I might enjoy, but didn’t ask for, and this year that was Leonard Cohen’s “The Flame”, a collection of his old writings, song lyrics, and last works, compiled after his death in 2016. I have been a fan of Leonard Cohen’s music, having been turned on to him after picking up a Greatest Hits CD at the library a while back, and realizing I knew a lot more of his songs than I thought. But I didn’t know much more than the music, and even less about the man himself. So, I thought it was a fun treat to get to do just that. And ironically, after I finished reading a book by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, I dove right into “The Flame” for an education.

Subconsciously, I think what appealed to me about Leonard Cohen is how similar his spiritual outlook was to that of Jack Kerouac. I got a taste of that while reading “The Flame”, but the parallels really hit home while watching MARIANNE AND LEONARD. Both had roots in Canada, came from middle-class homes with strong religious influences, both fancied themselves as writers, and spent their lives travelling to find inspiration for their writing. In fact, if there’s any major difference, it’s the choice of drugs and location. Kerouac traveled around the United States, looking for his inspiration, fueled mostly by alcohol, marijuana, and speed. But Cohen eventually found a home on the isle of Hydra, where he took massive amounts of speed, but also acid, while writing poetry and novels, and with the help of who would be his greatest muse, Marianne Ilhen.

When people think about the counter-culture of the 1960s, they generally think of the group as one homogenous unit, a stereotype that exists to this very day. Beatniks were not the same hippies, nor were yippies the same as communists. While these populations might have been pushing back against the mostly homogenous representation of society and culture appearing on the radio and television, each group had different reasons and approaches to that pushback. MARIANNE AND LEONARD looks at one dynamic corner of that world, secluded away on Hydra, where the two would meet and eventually fall in love. Marianne Ilhen was running away from a life she didn’t want in Norway, with her son in tow. Leonard Cohen was looking for inspiration, and found it in Marianne.

Hydra was just one of a number of locations and neighborhoods that existed around the world, as yet untouched by tourism or gentrification, similar to the kind of artistic awakening happening in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. We get to see the kind of routine they had in life, which was comprised of writing and roaming around Hydra, making steady progress, and enjoying life otherwise. It sounds like a writer’s paradise, and yet, for both Kerouac and Cohen, there’s also an uneasiness that comes with staying in one place too long, a stagnation that begins to stifle creativity, and this wandering urge would eventually be the beginning of the end for their relationship. And these mythical communities eventually fall apart as well, which Broomfield examines by going back to Hydra and examining the long-term effects of many individuals from that community. Daily acid trips generally don’t make for well-adjusted individuals.

A wandering spirit and heavy acid trips aren’t enough to pull someone away from the people they dearly love. But once Leonard Cohen found success as a singer/songwriter, he was gone longer and longer from Hydra, and by extension Marianne. It’s at this point in the documentary that Broomfield gets a little unbalanced in telling the story, turning mostly into a rapid-fire overview of Leonard’s career and controversies, and almost passing mentions for Marianne. It might be an apt metaphor for their relationship, especially as it deteriorated, but it seems to distract from that same relationship in the process. We get a mini-biography, then a moving ending where Leonard’s last letter to Marianne is being read to her on her death bed. I really wish we had heard more from Ilhen as part of the documentary, but I can imagine finding footage of Leonard to be much easier than Ilhen.

The only other stylistic difference I had with the film was the framing for the interviews. Broomfield has the guests speak directly into the camera, instead of at an angle, which can feel disconcerting to some viewers, especially when we know the person is speaking to Broomfield, not the viewer. I often found myself wanting to look away while they were speaking, which is not generally the effect a documentarian wants. I think it can work in the right circumstances, but here it just felt weird.

MARIANNE AND LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE is an expansive documentary, looking at the loving and creative relationship between Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ilhen. Nick Broomfield takes us from their meeting on Hydra all the way to their death beds, covering all the peaceful and tumultuous times in-between. While the content skews more towards Leonard Cohen, the documentary remains informative and insightful into the core relationship. Documentary fans, especially fans of older music like One Movie Spouse, should definitely check out this film.

Rotten Tomatoes: 79% (CERTIFIED FRESH)

Metacritic: 69

One Movie Punch: 8.0/10

MARIANNE AND LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE (2019) is rated R and is currently playing on Kanopy.