LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — A new documentary detailing the romantic relationship between Canadian legend Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian partner Marianne Ihlen will debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Fest.
Entitled Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, the documentary will explore Cohen’s relationship with Ihlen, which inspired much of his early work from Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs from a Room, including, “Bird on the Wire” and “So Long, Marianne.”
Indeed, the back sleeve of Songs from a Room features a photo of Ihlen, seemingly draped in only a towel, seated at Cohen’s typewriter.
In 2016, when Cohen learned from Ihlen’s close friend Jan Christian Mollestad that she was imminently facing her mortality after a battle with leukemia, he wrote her: “Well Marianne it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.”
The letter proved to be prophetic, and Cohen himself passed just four months later.
The documentary was directed by award-winning British documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield, whose past work includes everything from meditations on social class in England to on-the-ground filming in Iraq. His entertainment-related documentaries include the Whitney Houston biopic Can I Be Me (2017), Kurt & Courtney (1998) and Biggie & Tupac (2002).
