Marianne & Leonard: the perils of becoming an artist’s muse
Superb white shirt inspiration
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love the documentary by Nick Broomfield highlights the perils of becoming an artist’s muse. Particularly during the era of free love. Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen meet on the beautiful Greek Island of Hydra, in 1960. This photo of the couple, at the time, is so wonderful. It makes me want to wear a white shirt and waltz around. Their story, not so much. When they get together, Cohen is the author of unreadable books (Beautiful Losers was called ‘the most revolting book ever written in Canada’) and Marianne and her young son Axel have moved to Hydra to escape an abusive relationship. With Marianne’s encouragement and care Cohen turns to songwriting; heading back to Canada every now and then ‘to re-stoke his misery engines,’ as the FT’s film critic so brilliantly puts it. But the more famous he becomes, the longer the hiatus. The more drugs he takes, the more sex with other blonde women he has; while poor Marianne is left hanging around on Hydra.
This being a Nick Broomfield documentary, the director pops up to talk about his own brief affair with Marianne, on Hydra. Which is all a bit unnecessary – what I really wanted was to find out more about Marianne, who remains an enigma throughout. She eventually moves back to Oslo and marries a nice Norwegian engineer but that and her son’s mental health issues are basically all that we are told.
Leonard and Marianne remain lifelong friends. When invited to Cohen’s blockbuster show in Oslo (2009), she graciously takes a seat in the front row and sings along to her tune, So Long, Marianne. The ending, of course, is well documented but incredibly moving. Marianne is in hospital, dying of leukemia and her close friend contacts Cohen, who then sends the most poignant message:
‘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 for 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.’
Discussion (24 Comments)
It is a complicated story and the documentary is incredibly moving. I really regret not seeing Leonard Cohen’s last world tour…
Mrs Tonia says:
Like the music especially the classic earlier stuff. Hope to see this film when it reaches where I am. Read the reviews but glad for your take on it too Alyson. On the to-see list.
Ha! Haven’t seen the documentary, but will have to look up that quotation about Beautiful Losers. My doctorate is in Canadian Literature, and while I don’t love the novel (marked by at least the casual sexism of the day) it did some work breaking open some conventions of the day in a Quebec just barely out of a near-medieval/feudal period in respect to Catholicism, and is best understood in that context. Outrageous, I’m
fun to teach it to undergrads, tbh…Hello Frances, so the book was on your curriculum? It was ridiculed in the film, seems a bit odd, but maybe that helps to build the success story? I think the quote came from a Canadian newspaper.
I had to read it for my comprehensive exams for my doctorate. I’d only put it on the curriculum for 4th-year undergrads (and, of course, it’s fair game for what we call grad students — in Master’s or PhD programs). It’s pretty crazy — very 60s, and full of symbolism, mysticism — religion and sex and historical figures mix it up in stylistically heightened , almost hallucinatory or drug-fuelled language. . . . It’s a trip! 😉
Jac says:
The final message quoted above is the recollection of Marianne’s close friend. Cohen’s actual words to her were in an email which is still, apparently, in the Cohen estate. (This is according to Wikipedia)
“Dearest Marianne,
I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up, just as yours has too, and the eviction notice is on its way any day now.
I’ve never forgotten your love and your beauty. But you know that. I don’t have to say any more. Safe travels old friend. See you down the road. Love and gratitude.
— Leonard”Both versions are beautiful, but I like the simplicity of the email, the pragmatism and lack of sentimentality in both. He died just a few months after her.
The wiki entry doesn’t reveal much more about Marianne, after her relationship with Cohen.
“Ihlen married Jan Stang in 1979, worked in the oil industry, and lived in Oslo. She developed an interest in Tibetan Buddhism and spent time painting.”An interesting life, well lived by the sound of it. I’d like to see the documentary.
Thanks Jac. I saw both quotes but the one I published was on a newspaper’s website. I’m going to go back and take another look. The documentary is really poignant. I just felt that I wanted to know more about Marianne, and came away feeling that she was treated quite poorly. Apparently, Suzanne (who had a child with Cohen, and a song) turned up on Hydra and told her to move out of the house…
K says:
Haven’t seen the documentary, but it appears from what you have written, there may have been some misrepresentations. Beautiful Losers had some bad reviews, some great reviews, and had quite the cult following particularly among students. There were two Suzannes, one of which was the mother of his TWO children, the other the woman about whom the song was written. And so on. Still, I would like to see it before judging!
Philippa says:
I saw the film recently in Edinburgh, and was immersed in it from the start. A fascinating documentary, about very interesting, multi-layered people. I thoroughly recommend it.
Theresa says:
So often the muses behind great works of art are forgotten by history. I am glad Marianne led a full and happy life after Cohen, and his message to her shows he had never forgotten those feelings for her. The last message made me well up. Beautiful words.
Mary says:
Sad so little attention was paid to Marianne’s life in the documentary. Reminds of a book I read eons ago (hence, I cannot remember the title/author) where one of the main characters was a woman who is never identified by name but only written about based on her relationship to the other characters–wife, mother, sister, etc.. I always found that very chilling–she was given no value of her own. No name.
Martine Large says:
I thought there was another film that could have been made, perhaps several. This seemed to be a very male gaze, a bit ‘Cohen’s lover fancied me too’. I’m just old enough to remember the tail end of ‘free’ love, and the price that – usually – women paid for it. And I wondered about the damage done to Marianne’s son, left in boarding school while she followed Cohen to New York. I remember the books being quite radical (although not much else about them); it would be interesting to know the context for that quote. But like you I so regret missing that last tour.
Anna Campas says:
Poor Axel, Jr. He came out the worst of anyone in this tale and has been institutionalized most of his adult life.
I saw the documentary this week at the local movie theatre in Albany, NY. At the closing scene with Marianne on her deathbed, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.
I agree with the reviewer that not enough of Marianne was explored, but perhaps there wasn’t much development with her as an individual, as her life was wrapped around Leonard’s comings and goings.
Mary says:
I recently saw this documentary and I too felt that Marianne was treated poorly. Leonard was, to my mind, incredibly self-indulgent for much of his life (how many drugs can a person take – it all seemed such a waste) and only toward the end did he seem to come into his own as a human being. A deeply flawed but very talented man.
Susan says:
I feel bad for Marianne. She seemed young, idealistic and infatuated with the possibilities of a future with Cohen. There was no real future. Very sad. Marianne was young and beautiful and Cohen enjoyed his time with her only to say, “goodbye,” when he was finished.
MaureenC says:
The whole muse thing is very interesting isn’t it. At its heart is always a power imbalance with the artist as the core presence and the muse as an ultimately disposable objectified figure. Of course the artist generally is male and the muse female and it’s rare for the muse to have a “talent” other than her beauty or suchlike. I racked my brains to think of exceptions so if you know any please tell me!
The contrast would be relationships where the woman is equally but differently talented. No one ever refers to Simone de Beauvoir as Satre’s muse and pity the fate of anyone referring to Patti Smith as Robert Mapplethorpe’s!!
I do hope those moving lines from Cohen at the end of her life gave Marianne comfort but more than that I hope her years with her engineer from Oslo gave her happiness.I read recently in Beaux Arts magazine about the artist Dora Maar who was a muse to Picasso. She was a beautiful young photographer when she met him, a much older married man with a family. But he was a famous artist and she quickly became his lover. She continued with her art work and moved in the circle of the Surrealists in Paris She in turn was dumped when he transferred his affections to the beautiful young Francoise Gilot.
Now her oeuvre is the subject of a retrospective at the Centre Pompidou ( Beaubourg) in Paris. A chance for her place in art history to be re-acclaimed and re-evaluated. This exhibition transfers to Tate Modern in London this Autumn so anyone here will have a chance to see the work for themselves soon. I shall go certainly.That’s great news, I shall certainly catch the exhibition when it comes to London.
Loved the film except the deathbed scene seemed unnecessary and exploitative….poor children, all of them, who were raised on Hydra.
Love your blog!Beverly Pesacov says:
Lovely touching film, definitely a good example of that era & a woman striving for equality in love & art. Sad about her son & so many other children who were the (unexpected) collateral damage..
Judith Gubbay says:
Saw the film last week at the ICA. It was totally absorbing and moving. The Greek Island idyll, the deep close-ups of lovely but unconfident Marianne, the way Leonard’s needs dictated the relationship over decades, the film-maker’s groupie-like guest appearances. No one seems to have emerged unscathed from all that fun we enjoyed (or enjoyed watching) in the 70s. We saw how poor little Axel, Marianne’s son, bore the brunt of his mother’s sleepwalking love for Leonard Cohen.
Many relationships with driven artists seem to show this pattern. Sometimes, as in the case of Lee Krasner (great exhibition of her work at the Barbican now), women artists do get the chance to emerge from their partner’s shadow (Jackson Pollock in her case); Bauhaus artist-weaver Anni Albers (wife of Bauhaus artist Josef).
Laurel Armstrong says:
It might be interesting for you to read online: The Darker Side of Leonard Cohen: How the myth of the male genius shields our cultural heroes from scrutiny by Myra Bloom in the Canadian arts/culture magazine The Walrus: https://thewalrus.ca/the-darker-side-of-leonard-cohen
As a student most of us studied Cohen’s work in our CanLit university courses, with various viewpoints on his writing as well as his commitment to shock and upend boring life in stodgy Canada…perhaps. After all these years I think he was a trickster and a cad and a bit of a creep with a flair for a certain type of writing. Women were a meal to be consumed – not a new story for sure.
Will be interesting to read further comments after reading this article.
Cheers! from lovely summertime Canada.
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Oh my…. that last line hit me. I’m a bit teary. I’ll definitely watch the video. As we all know, artists at this level tend to be very complicated, often leaving a wake of mess behind them…. But when they shine, boy is it bright. To my mind, few shined brighter than Leonard Cohen.