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Gabriel Byrne plays Samuel O’Shea, a roué professor who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. This is causing him to revel in his past and hallucinate in the present. He also has two kids and a marriage that is falling apart. A Frankenstein sidles up to the bar at one point, and his father who died when he was a boy, keeps popping up to have a chat. Often his reveries turn into joyous song and dance numbers, all of them inspired by the music of Leonard Cohen. As things get even more disorienting, Samuel decides to retreat to a rural area of Ireland. There, he meets a perfect local woman in the form of Charlotte (Jessica Paré). She is the same age as his children, but she responds to the older man’s roguish charms and intelligence, grounding him at a time when he worries he might be losing his mind.

This is not the first time director Matt Bissonnette has explored cinematic links to Leonard Cohen. In 2002, he directed a film called LOOKING FOR LEONARD in which a character obsessively reread Cohen’s Beautiful Losers novel. In 2009, he directed PASSENGER SIDE, about two brothers driving around LA trying to score drugs and find meaning in their lives. Finding meaning in a life well misspent is the fundamental theme of DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN. And sometimes that meaning is best expressed through an exploration of Leonard Cohen’s poetic musical oeuvre. This offbeat take on material that is sure to be enjoyed by Leonard Cohen fans the world over.
  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    101 minutes
  • Language
    English, French
  • Country
    Canada, Ireland
  • Premiere
    National Festival VOD Premiere
  • Rating
    Contains, sexuality, drugs, violence
  • Note
    English and French languages with English subtitles
  • Director
    Matthew Bissonnette
  • Screenwriter
    Matthew Bissonnette
  • Producer
    Corey Marr, Don Carmody, Marie-Claude Poulin, Martina Niland, Martina Niland
  • Cast
    Gabriel Byrne, Jessica Paré, Brian Gleeson, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Karelle Tremblay, Suzanne Clément, Brian Gleeson, Karelle Tremblay
  • Cinematographer
    Jonathan Cliff
  • Editor
    Matt Lyon
  • Composer
    Stephen Rennicks