So Long, Marianne dives into the life of Leonard Cohen's most famous muse

So Long, Marianne tells the story of Leonard Cohen's relationship with Marianne Ihlen on the Greek Island of Hydra during the early '60s.

The new series, available now in Canada on Crave, not only fills in the blanks on a transformative period in the poet's life, but also illuminates the woman who was so much more than his muse.

Today on Commotion, entertainment journalists Brian D. Johnson and Teri Hart tell host Elamin Abdelmahmoud why this show is essential viewing for anyone who is a fan, but also holds up even if you've never heard of Cohen.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Brian, as you were watching this, was there a moment where you're like, Leonard would like this?

Brian: I've only seen the first two episodes, to tell you the truth. I had trouble watching it because I was so nervous that it would not be right. So I watched it again. And the first time through, I've got to say, the place where my heart connected to it was the first music cue, which was a needle drop. It was Leonard's own voice. But it was a very unlikely and clever needle drop. It was the song Happens to the Heart, which is from his posthumous album, his last record. 

And I immediately thought, these guys know what they're doing. These guys understand Leonard. And to put Leonard on his deathbed virtually, his voice there, it was like Leonard had entered the room as far as I was concerned. He was there. And that made a big difference. And then I guess the other point is where Alex Wolff—

Elamin: He plays Leonard in it, yup.

Brian: Yeah, who is a musician and an actor, fortunately. And when he first picks up the guitar and starts to strum The Stranger Song, I thought, oh yeah, this guy's got it. 

Elamin: Brian, I've got to say if I made the show and I just heard somebody who knew Leonard personally say it was like Leonard entered the room, I don't think there's higher praise.

Teri, I'm going to kick it over to you. This is a show that is about Leonard's story as much as it is Marianne's. Tell us about the way that it treats Marianne's story. What does this show help us understand about her?

Teri: Well, it's actually more Marianne's story than Leonard's story, and I love that. You know, for my whole life, I've been watching stories about artists and the women who have inspired them, and it's all about the man. So it's really nice to be focused squarely on this incredible woman who left her life and went to Hydra. She was not a musician. She was not a poet. She was not a writer, but she was surrounded by all these people. 

And with her new husband, who is the worst man, we find her negotiating, understanding who she's married and what that means for her life. She is not paying any attention to other men. She is not looking particularly in any way at Leonard Cohen. She's squarely focused on what this means for her life, and understanding the marriage that she's in as she becomes a mother as well. She's not just an object. She's forging a life ahead for herself, and she really fought for how she should be treated. And I think that starting this eight-part series out with a really square understanding of who Marianne was as a person, not just an object, really felt right to me.

Elamin: So that's where I wanted to root this discussion, the idea of Marianne not being an object, because I think we're relatively familiar with the notion of the muse as a vehicle for us to get to know the artist. The muse is rarely three-dimensional, right? What we get is, the muse is only as real as the artist needs her. It's usually a woman, and the artist is usually a man kind of mining her for parts, if you will.

I would say Marianne was famous for being this muse, which as a concept comes with all of this baggage that I just mentioned because a muse tends to have no agency. They are just this object. Brian, you got to know Leonard as someone who's had a different kind of relationship with the women who inspired him. He didn't see them in that way. How so?

Brian: Well, "muse" is a simplification, really. It's a romantic notion, and Leonard was never that simple. I mean, he had many relationships with many women on all kinds of different levels — some of whom operated perhaps as muses briefly, some for a long time. But there was an equilibrium that he had with women, and I think it's because he worshipped women, and they worshipped him. It was a kind of worship that was mutual, secular and respectful. 

He didn't turn his muses into wives. And even Marianne, I mean, he kind of sampled fatherhood for the first time with Marianne's kids from her husband. And, of course, Marianne was an experienced muse because her husband basically treated her as his typist, his proofreader, his cook, his maid, his wife. And I think going to Leonard after that kind of treatment must have been heavenly because it was much more having a real equal companion.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.