Cert 12A 101mins stars 3

By framing the relationship between musician Leonard Cohen and his ‘muse’ Marianne Ihlen, as an enduring love story, this uninspired documentary puts the most positive possible gloss on 1960’s rock star behaviour.

If like me you know little about the Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and novelist, Cohen, you’ve certainly heard his 1984 song, Hallelujah which Alexandra Burke bellowed to chart topping X Factor success in 2008, and this is an easy to follow introduction to his life and work.

In 1960, Cohen lived in an idyllic Greek island, Hydra, with the beautiful Norwegian divorcee, Marianne Ihlen, in a relationship which lasted for most of the decade.

She inspired his songwriting, appeared on his album covers, and supported and mothered him while he mined their relationship for commercial success.

Cohen comes across as a selfish and indulgent character who treated her as little more than a long-term groupie, and she was foolish enough to judge him not by his actions, but by his words of love.