So Long, Marianne | Leonard Cohen, between the cracks of shadow and light

I’m going to be 100% honest: I’m not sure what to think about the TV series. So Long, Marianne from the Crave platform, which focuses on the 1960s portion of the complex relationship between Montreal singer-poet Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse, Marianne Ihlen.

I found the first two episodes, which come out Friday on Crave, to be both very long and very beautiful. I loved hearing Leonard Cohen’s early songs again, without however getting hooked on their genesis by this brilliant, tortured and depressive creator.

Also, I am unable to say whether the actor who plays Cohen, the young American Alex Wolff (Oppenheimer, Hereditary), is right or if he is just imitating the famous lyricist who grew up in Westmount.

This is surely the most daredevil character to play because of the magnitude of his legend and the inevitable pitfalls of caricature, such as the singer-songwriter’s gravelly voice or his slow, restrained phrasing.

Physically, Alex Wolff resembles Cohen in his early twenties. But in spirit, I don’t think he succeeds in transmitting the aura and magnetism of this immense artist. It is neither a disaster nor a triumph as an acting performance.

In fact, Alex Wolff, 26, remained in character as Cohen even when the cameras were off. His castmates always addressed him by the Montreal poet’s nickname, Lenny. It’s always intense and strange when actors immerse themselves completely in fiction, especially if the results aren’t that convincing. Not everyone can be Daniel Day-Lewis.

As for the famous Marianne Ihlen, who grew up in Oslo, she is played by Norwegian actress Thea Sofie Loch Næss (The Last Kingdom). Again, it is difficult to embark, in two episodes out of a total of eight, on this mythical love story between her and Cohen, which will last, interspersed with major interruptions, until their respective deaths in 2016, three months apart.

Thea Sofie Loch Næss also lacks that spark and charisma that bewitches us at first glance.

In fact, the actress who stands out the most from So Long, Marianne (To Marianne, by Leonardin the French version), it is the brilliant Anna Torv, who we saw in Mindhunter And The Last of Us. What an electrifying presence, truly.

Anna Torv plays Australian writer Charmian Clift, who offers Leonard Cohen a place to stay when he arrives on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960, broke, unknown and depressed.

A mother in a relationship with the author George Johnston (Noah Taylor), Charmian introduces Cohen to the bohemian life on this paradise island where novelists, painters and poets from all over the world converge. In the evening, the artists toast, dance and smoke like firemen at the Katsikas bar, the meeting point for all the partygoers on this magical island without drinking water, cars or electricity.

It is in this crowded café that Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen, both aged 25, begin their long romance. He ends up at Hydra after a depressing stay in London, which reactivates his chronic depression. Moreover, the alcohol and barbiturates consumed by Cohen imbue the whole series with melancholy.

She, Marianne, lives with the Norwegian writer Axel Jensen (Jonas Strand Gravli). Their marriage is toxic. The couple explodes six months after the birth of their first child.

With So Long, Mariannedon’t expect a complete retrospective of Leonard Cohen’s fruitful career. Crave’s miniseries, a co-production between Norway, Canada and Greece, only opens the window on the 1960s with brief flashbacks and a few short jumps into the future.

It is in these short flashbacks that we see – too quickly – Macha Grenon, who slips into the shoes of Masha Cohen, the poet’s mother. In a mini role, Éric Bruneau will be the film producer Robert Hershorn, a close friend of Leonard Cohen, while Kim Lévesque Lizotte will play Monique Mercure, one of the stars of the film. All things considered by Claude Jutra, co-produced by Hershorn in 1963.

This robust miniseries project was initiated in Norway by the family of Marianne Ihlen, who wanted to tell the story of the life of this woman who is more than just the inspiration for the song So Long, Mariannereleased in 1967 on the album Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Norwegian viewers will also see a first episode different from ours, focusing more on Marianne Ihlen than on Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen’s family did not participate in the creation of the episodes, but allowed the release of the rights to several flagship pieces from the singer-poet’s discography.

Visually, So Long, Marianne is spectacular with its images captured in Oslo, Hydra, Athens and Montreal. The content is weaker, I find. We feel all the love and respect that the team of So Long, Marianne to this larger-than-life man. Result? They showed more of the light that crept into the famous crack in the song Anthem than Cohen’s gray areas.