Film: Leonard and Marianne – Words Of Love

She was Norwegian, he was from Canada. Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen’s relationship began on the Greek Island of Hydra in 1960 and endured in various forms up to their deaths in 2016 which were separated by just three months. Cohen was still a poet at the time, having not yet made the transition to recording his writings as songs, and the bohemian lifestyle shared by the artistic community on Hydra was the perfect environment for his work to flourish. Featuring wonderful archival footage, the film follows their relationship from its beginnings on the island, an innocent time of ‘free love’ and open marriage, to its collapse under the weight of Leonard’s growing celebrity status.