Original subtitles

CROWD CHEERING

♪ Hallelujah

♪ Hallelujah... ♪

CAMERA CLICKS ♪ Hallelujah

CAMERA CLICKS ♪ Hallelujah... ♪

LEONARD COHEN: 'I know you've heard that song before.

'I wrote that.

'I just wanted to get your attention.

'I was 33 when I released my first song,

'and at that point, I used so much Quaalude

'that people called me Captain Mandrax.

'That's a pretty splendid superhero name, if you ask me.

'Captain Mandrax.

'They used to call me a womaniser, but I never was.

'It was just easier to get someone else to love me

'than it was to love myself.'

LEONARD MOANS

GLASS SMASHES

'And what is love, anyway?'

It's the one that comes and goes without leaving a mark.

But then there's that other kind...

'..the one that stays with you your whole life.'

Somewhere,

even though life goes on, it lives inside of you.

It's in love that we are made

and in love that we disappear.

And you're always there.

I knew you before I even met you.

SEA BIRDS CALLING

LIGHTER CLICKS

PEOPLE CHATTERING

BELL DINGING

DONKEY BRAYING

PEOPLE CHATTERING

You look a little lost.

Is it that obvious?

SHE CHUCKLES

No. I know most of the foreigners on the island and, er,

a lot of the Greeks, and I've not seen you before.

I'd remember.

I'm Leonard.

Leonard Cohen.

Charmian.

You can call me Charm. Charm? Mm.

Please...

join me.

I'm not disturbing any...? Not at all.

So, what brings you to Hydra, Leonard?

Oh, escaping from London.

Ah, so did we.

You don't sound, uh...

You don't sound English.

No, neither do you.

I'm Australian.

Australian, fine by me. I'm Canadian.

So, we're the outsiders. SHE LAUGHS

Have you, uh... Have you been here long?

Ages.

SHE CLEARS THROAT You're a writer?

All the foreigners here are either painters or writers.

Which one are you? Are you a painter or a writer, or...?

I'm a novelist.

I was a cannoneer in the army during the war.

Anyway, after that, I got a job at the Argus,

which is an Australian newspaper,

which is where I met my husband, George.

It was quite a scandal because he was married at the time,

and I was 23, and he was 35.

How old are you, Leonard?

Uh, I'm 26, but don't hold it against me.

Oh, that's a great, great age.

Anyway, I got fired.

George resigned in, er, protest, bless him.

And he got a job in London, at The London Times,

as an editor, and we endured many years of bad weather.

And then we decided that we both wanted to write,

which was, of course, financially disastrous,

so we found the cheapest place we could.

We packed up our children, and here we are.

Life.

Under two minutes.

Um, I heard there were, uh...

some rooms available

in a guest house, or a guest house in a room.

Oh, you're looking for something

a little more long-term and less expensive?

Oh, darling.

You don't have to be ashamed about lack of funds here.

Nearly everybody on the island is broke on a regular basis.

Come.

Where are we going?

Well... SHE CLEARS THROAT

..we have a guest room, if you don't mind the children.

It's got its own private entrance.

'OK. How much is it?' 'Oh, no.'

'I really am strapped right now.' 'No, no, no.

'You pay what you want, you pay what you feel.

'Welcome to Hydra.'

SHOUTING, CRASH IN OTHER ROOM

CHARMIAN: I mean, are you really accusing me of being drunk?

Your son found you passed out on the fucking couch last night,

next to two bottles of wine!

Give me a break. I was working like a dog.

I fell asleep.

HE SIGHS Anyway, where were you last night?

Oh, don't pretend you bloody care, George.

If I didn't care, I would've left here years ago!

You know what?

You know, maybe you're the reason that I drink,

just to endure your self-righteous bullshit!

FOOTSTEPS, ANGRY MUTTERING

If I didn't drink, maybe I would've left YOU years ago!

KNOCK AT DOOR

DOOR CREAKS Hey.

Leonard? Yes, Leonard, sorry. How are you?

George. Nice to meet you, mate. Nice to meet you. Sorry.

What's, er... What's going on? You're, er...

not leaving, are you?

I was, uh... I was just packing, packing up my stuff.

I-I'm sorry about all the ruckus. It's, erm...

It's got nothing to do with you, honestly.

All right. Look, erm...

Why don't you hang your things back up and come upstairs

and have a glass of wine with me?

You like wine? Oh, love wine.

Well, you'll fit right in. OK.

I'll see you up there. All right.

BIRDS CHIRPING

CAT MEOWS

IN GREEK:

You all right?

I'm OK, thank you. I can carry one.

Oh, I'm fine, thank you. OK.

'You're a writer, as well?'

Yeah. You know, Charm and I, we...

we write together,

live together, have three kids, so...

..it can get a little claustrophobic at times.

It's complex, isn't it?

Marriage, or...

..humanity, more generally.

Well, genetically speaking,

we were designed to live amongst a non-monogamous herd,

and now we're all put into these little pairs.

And it's our, erm...

our morals, you see?

Battling our genes, it's, erm...

Exhausting. It can be.

Well, erm...

I suppose I should go and check on her, really.

You don't know where she is?

Oh, I know where she is. HE LAUGHS

Too right, I do.

You wanna come?

Come on.

Er, Martin, just gonna pop out for a bit, mate.

Will you look after the others?

Good man.

Just got paid a residual on our latest book, you see,

so that's why I was over in the mainland,

cos they don't have a bank over here.

Anyway, Charm's in there, paying off our tab,

which is good, but, you know... LIGHTER CLICKS

..means she can start a new one.

LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING, CHATTER

CHARMIAN: Leonard!

IN GREEK:

Darling, mwah!

I'm Leonard. You all right?

Good, exactly what I was looking for.

Leonard. Leonard, Goran from Sweden.

This is Leonard. He's Canadian.

From Montreal. This is Axel.

Axel, from Norway. THEY GREET EACH OTHER

And Leonard... Axel. Axel?

AXEL: So, you arrived today?

Yeah, I arrived a few hours ago. A few hours ago.

Wow. Well, welcome to Hydra. Thank you, man.

IN GREEK:

LIVELY TRADITIONAL MUSIC, PEOPLE CHATTERING

I was just telling George about your original thoughts on God.

So refreshing.

You don't strike me as the religious type, frankly.

The fact that we've constructed this idea of a God

is a blasphemy against humanity.

Leonard, Leonard, Leonard, do you believe in God?

Oh, of course, He's an old friend of mine.

Do you believe in the Devil?

Oh, yeah. The Devil's just God when He's drunk.

God when he's drunk! See, that...

That's very good. Bloody good line, mate.

Axel, your wife is here, and she looks beautiful tonight.

THEY GIGGLE

SHE EXHALES

IN NORWEGIAN:

WIND BLOWING SOFTLY

SHE EXHALES

SHE WHIMPERS

MARIANNE GRUNTING

PANTING:

Hospital? Er...

English, please.

OK, OK. Thank you.

Argh! No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Can you walk?

GRUNTING: No, no.

MARIANNE SCREAMING AND GRUNTING

Your appendix has burst. This needs to come out.

If not, you die. Do you understand?

SHE SCREAMS

No, it doesn't work!

They told me you were awake.

SHE LAUGHS WEAKLY Yes, I am.

How do you feel?

I'm OK. OK.

And, er, Axel, the man I was with?

He's here. We gave him an empty office down the hall so he can work.

Thank you.

Hi. Hi.

IN NORWEGIAN:

Wow!

This is, er... This is great.

Thank you.

What are you writing?

It's about the human paradox.

How? How? Er...

Please sit down. Sit down. You can...

I don't know, I see myself as...

someone that doesn't belong.

So I travel...

and search for something to fill this...

void, for want of a better word, that most of us feel.

We're tempted by the unknown

cos we've seen through the conventions

that the structures of society are lies.

BIRDS CHIRPING

IN NORWEGIAN:

Say something.

BOTH PANTING You're beautiful.

No. Like before.

Like you write.

We could all die tomorrow.

And in two weeks...

Yeah. ..no-one would care.

PANTING

CHURCH BELL CHIMING

BIRDS CHIRPING

LEONARD: 'I heard of a man Who says words so beautifully

'That if he only speaks their name

'Women give themselves to him

'If I am dumb beside your body

'While silence blossoms Like tumours on our lips

'It is because I hear a man climb the stairs

'And clear his throat Outside our door.'

Je suis rentre.

MUSIC PLAYING

Well, ignoring me is not the answer.

Are you hungry? You look...

You look skinny.

You need to eat more and stop fasting.

So...

What was her name?

Whose?

The one who made you quit university.

HE CLEARS THROAT I don't know if she made me quit.

I'm really not sure I ever liked Columbia.

SHE SIGHS

How are you feeling?

You seem better...

than when we spoke on the phone.

I'd been in my room for two weeks.

You remember what I told you, hm?

Whenever you get depressed,

when things get very bad in your head,

you stop what you're doing, and you have a shave.

You'll feel better.

I was smooth as a porcelain doll for the whole semester.

Imagine what would've happened if you hadn't shaved.

And now I have a moustache.

I think you look...

you look ugly with that moustache.

I kept something for you.

I've never seen my name in the paper.

I look terrible. I look really ugly.

You can have your old room, on one condition.

You take a real job.

I'm not saying you stop writing.

Just get a proper job.

I talked to your uncle, and you can start tomorrow.

Irving Layton called.

I said you'd call him back once you've eaten.

MUTTERS: Ugly fuck.

REPORTER ON TV: 'Two spans of Vancouver's new Narrows Bridge

'collapsed, becoming the city's worst industrial disaster.

'The six-lane bridge has been two years in the building,

'Slated for completion next spring,

'it has now been set back by six months.

'$3 million has been added

'to the original cost figure of 16 million.

'When the outer span collapsed,

'dozens were hurled 200 feet into the swirling waters...'

IRVING: 'You got me worried.'

You know, on the phone,

you sounded more depressed than your mother.

I'm very accustomed to melancholy, you know, but this was, um...

this is different.

What?

It was like a mental violence.

Like, just...

goes and goes and makes it impossible

for me to get from one moment to the next.

I don't want you to do anything bad.

Well, I... You sounded really depressive.

I'm not going to kill myself in America.

It'd be very unbecoming of me.

Don't say that, please.

You know, I went there to reach for something more.

You know, I really thought I could...

But I couldn't get with their ideas of good and bad writing.

I just felt like writing "cunt" every other word.

Well, not a bad word, is it?

Next time, maybe try... try "vagina".

IRVING LAUGHS

Something exotic, like "snatch" or "porky bank".

THEY LAUGH

You know, those people down there, you shouldn't listen to them.

They're all, you know, self-proclaimed gatekeepers

of some reactionary system built on "morals".

Fuck them!

What?

Doesn't change the fact that I'm...

I'm going to work in my uncle's garment factory tomorrow.

Lenny, Lenny, listen to me.

You're a poet, and a fucking good poet.

Your primary obligation is to enlighten us human beings

about the dark abyss that lies deep inside of us.

You have to make us feel less alone in our depravity.

Isn't that good? You're doing a good job.

Don't you ever forget...

you are a fucking good poet...

..depressed or not depressed.

Hey... WOMAN: You OK, Lenny?

He's allowed to fucking cry.

Fucking drink your beer, or drink... whatever you have.

MACHINERY CLANKING

I like this one.

It's my favourite.

'It's very ordinary, in a very, uh... unique way.'

TIME CARDS PUNCHING

SEA BIRDS CALLING

IN NORWEGIAN:

SONG: 'Till We Meet Again'

♪ Smile the while

♪ You kiss me sad adieu

♪ When the clouds roll by I'll come to you

♪ Then the sky will seem more blue

♪ Down in Lover's Lane with you

♪ Wedding bells ring merrily

♪ Every tear a memory... ♪

Thank you.

♪ So wait and pray each night for me

♪ Till we meet again. ♪

APPLAUSE

Hi.

That was my husband. SHE LAUGHS

Oh, wow. He's... amazing.

I haven't seen you before.

Erm, we, er... we came Tuesday,

so it's first time seeing all this.

Oh. I'm Charmian Clift.

Hi, Marianne Ihlen.

Nice to meet you. And you said "we?"

Hm? "We came here"?

Er... Yes, he, erm...

AXEL: Yeah, but it gets very hot here in the summer, right?

CHARMIAN CHUCKLES

You know, you can't let your happiness depend on men,

or you will live in a world of pain.

Come. Erm, wh...?

We're gonna dance. Oh, I... Yeah.

No, I'm not... I'll show you. We're gonna dance.

LIVELY MUSIC, LAUGHTER

JOYFUL SHOUT

IN GREEK:

TRAIN RUMBLES

MACHINE RATTLING

Good job.

MACHINE RATTLING

MACHINE BUZZES

RATTLING

RATTLING, RINGING

RHYTHMIC BANGING

INAUDIBLE

"Is it possible...

"to hang yourself from a clothes hanger,"

I wondered, over lunch.

If I did it in the closet...

maybe someday, you would take me out

and wear me as a spring coat.

"What's that you're wearing?"

"Oh, this old thing?

"This is a vintage Cohen." SCATTERED LAUGHTER

"A little tight over the shoulders,

"but I like the way it screams for attention."

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

You just have to tell them you can't work there any more.

Huh? I can't.

Why?

You think I'm low, you should see my mother.

My stepfather just left and went to Florida,

and now we're trying to find a room in a nursing home

for my grandfather, with his Alzheimer's.

But we're waiting and waiting and waiting, and...

I'm a misery magnet.

A misery magnet?

Look at this. What's that?

These are application papers

for every provincial and federal grant

there is in Canada.

You see, we're launching a rescue operation

to get you outta here.

What do you say about it?

Well, there's no harm in doing it.

That's what grants are for.

You fill them out, and they get approved.

I'm gonna co-sign.

Excuse me?

I just wanted to say I really liked your reading.

Oh, thank you. What's your name?

Bridget. Pleasure to meet you.

Nice to meet you. SHE GIGGLES

Hi. Hi, Irving.

I-I appreciate it. I have to go now, though.

Yeah. Hey, you have to take all of them.

OK. Fill them out. It's pretty easy.

I'm saving his ass.

I'm sure you are. THEY LAUGH

'The last refuge of the insomniac

'is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world.

'I'll call when I get there.

'Your troubled child...'

Leonard.

THUNDER RUMBLES

'Dear Irving, I just finished my novel.

'It needs a rewrite, but being in London,

'crunching out three pages a day without looking back

'is a wholesome way to work.

'I can feel the depression

'lurking in the back of my head still,

'sometimes like a grey blanket,

'other times like a barking dog chewing on cords to my brain.

'The rain was brutal through six months straight,

'and the fog was so heavy

'that it sucks the colour out from your skin,

'turning everyone into a grey mass of ill-fitted suits.

'I really couldn't fucking stand it any more.'

♪ Can I be yours?

♪ Can you be mine...? ♪

'So I've decided to reinvent myself as a man of the world.

'I'll create a version of me

'that travels the world as a closet optimist.

'I met the only happy man in London...

'..and he was from Greece.'

IN GREEK:

You need help?

No, it's fine. Thank you.

You got all the jugs in all the town.

SHE LAUGHS Well, water is important.

Water's very important.

IN NORWEGIAN:

SHE SHOUTS:

HE SCOFFS

HE CHUCKLES BITTERLY

SHE SIGHS

CRICKETS CHIRPING

CHURCH BELL TOLLING

♪ These eyes are tired of lying

♪ It's time to tell the truth

♪ You're tired of denying

♪ The darker side of you

♪ It's time to turn it around

♪ There's just no stopping me now

♪ You wanna play with fire

♪ I'll burn your whole world down

♪ Just when the sun is dying

♪ Is when it all comes out

♪ The cries of souls escaping

♪ Is such a lovely sound

♪ It's time to turn it around

♪ There's just no stopping me now

♪ My heart is tired of trying

♪ To give you what you want

♪ I'm tired of all the fighting

♪ And always being wrong... ♪

Axel, your wife is here, and she looks beautiful tonight.

You're a lucky, lucky man.

♪ You wanna play with fire... ♪

Oh!

His wife? Yeah.

IN NORWEGIAN:

CHARMIAN: Marianne, you look beautiful tonight.

You always look beautiful!

I find it so funny that people get so outraged

the minute a woman decides to act like a man.

Her name is Marianne, Leonard.

HE GRUNTS

HE SCREAMS

HE YELLS

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Ah.

LEONARD: Hey. Hey.

You still awake?

No, I'm sleeping.

WHISPERS: Do you want some more wine?

Yeah, yeah.

Always.

GLASSES CLINKING

What are you writing?

Oh, just something silly.

Read it to me.

It's very... It's very mediocre. You sure?

Yeah.

Come on, read it to me.

OK.

Beneath my hands

Your small breasts Are the upturned bellies

Of breathing fallen sparrows

Wherever you move

I hear the sounds of closing wings

Of falling wings

I am speechless Because you've fallen beside me

Because your eyelashes

Are the spines Of tiny, fragile animals

I dread the time

When your mouth Begins to call me hunter.

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