Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love

2019

Action / Biography / Documentary / Music / Romance

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 112 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85%
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 2327 2.3K

Plot summary

A story of enduring love between Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse, Marianne Ihlen. The film follows their relationship from their early days in Greece, a time of "free love" and open marriage, to how their love evolved when Leonard became a successful musician.

Director

Nick Broomfield Photo
Nick Broomfield

Top cast

Nick Broomfield Photo
Nick Broomfield as Self - Narrator
Udo Jürgens Photo
Udo Jürgens as Self
Judy Collins Photo
Judy Collins as Self
Leonard Cohen Photo
Leonard Cohen as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
897.67 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles in   us   ar   cn   cz   fr   il   hu   id   ja   ms   pl   pt   ro   ru   es   th   tr   uk   vi  
25 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds ...
1.8 GB
1920*1024
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles in   us   ar   cn   cz   fr   il   hu   id   ja   ms   pl   pt   ro   ru   es   th   tr   uk   vi  
25 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by pennylane4 8 / 10

A love lettter

Wonderfully made.Poetic and insightful .Gives you a good idea of what it was like to love Leonard Cohen and be loved by him.
Reviewed by conannz 7 / 10

A sideways glance at the life of Marianne

In some ways this film can be seen as an extended victim impact report. It is about Marianne who clearly contributed much to Cohens life on more than one level.It also leaves a great deal unsaid and hazy. The assumption is that the cultural moments of the day ( and the copious drugs) have blurred the stories in many many ways. Despite all of that it somehow brings the back story of Marianne and Leonard into focus in a very sweet way towards the end of the film.A number of the interviewees are just plain great. Watch out forAviva Layton who seems to be uncredited but she deserves better.In many ways this film could have been much better if we had got past the headlines. Archival footage is used but the viewpoint most of the time is very much the male point of view.This much thoughtless behaviour seems highly paradoxical. The myth of the unreachable poet seems to have attracted considerable numbers of women to the Cohen fan club. They felt like they were being understood. But seems to me; if that were really true - the story would have turned out quite differently.What lifts this film is the redemption towards the end when we see the famous letter from Leonard to Marianne. In his dying moments Leonard recognised the value of his connection with Marianne. Coverage of the 5 or 6 years in a Buddhist monastery definitely hints at a rebalancing of Cohens' personal life and perspectives.All in all this is a rather gentle sideways look at a significant relationship but understandably it is overbalanced by the the celebrity aspects of the story.Marianne herself is present in the story but mostly in a back handed compliment kind of way.
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