LEONARD COHEN'S SONGS ON THE SOUNDTRACKS

Compiled by Jarkko Arjatsalo



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McCabe and Mrs. Miller

USA 1971



The stranger song
Sisters of mercy
Winter lady
A drama/Western directed by Robert Altman, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. A grim and dirty slice of bleak frontier life rendered with extraordinary beauty. John McCabe, an ambitious small-timer opens a bordello in turn-of-the-century boom town. Several versions of Cohen?s three songs are used (both original and instrumental). 121 min.
More about this film


Beware of a Holy Whore
(Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte)

Germany 1971



Master Song
Sisters of Mercy
So Long, Marianne
Suzanne
Teachers
Winter lady
A film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
An honest account of the world of filmmaking from Fassbinder centered around the relationships of a German film crew staying at a Spanish seaside hotel, awaiting the arrival of the temperamental director. Starring Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine and Hanna Schyguila. Music by Leonard Cohen etc. 103 min.


Fata Morgana

Germany 1971



Suzanne
So long, Marianne
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye
An avantgarde/experimental film by Werner Herzog. Fata Morgana,refers to mirages, an apt title for this storyless, hallucinatory work shot in the Sahara deserts of North Africa. It is a rhythmic, musical succession of images and short scenes.


Last movie

USA 1971



which song?
The director Dennis Hopper concocts a hallucinatory acid-trip concerning an American movie company making a western in a remote mountain village in Peru. The Peruvians decide that they want to make their own movie. Not having the necessary film equipment, but plenty of local raw material, the villagers construct the needed cameras, microphones, and sound recorders out of bamboo, and although the equipment is faked, the villagers substitute real, bloody violence for the make-believe violence of Hollywood.


The Second Coming of Suzanne

USA 1973



Suzanne (thrice!) This film was produced in 1973 by Suzanne Company and was shot in San Francisco and Sausalito. Written and directed by Michael Barry, produced by Ralph Burris and Gene Barry. Music by Don Caverhill. Starring Sondra Locke, Paul Sand, Jared Martin, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Barry. Timing 1:22. Young actress encounters a hypnotic film director. Her role: to star in a crucifixion--which may be more real than she imagines. Winner of two international film festivals. Cohen's original version of Suzanne is twice on the soundtrack (during the first scenes and also during the last ones, when Suzanne IS crucified). Also another version of Suzanne by an unidentified female artist is heard.


In Acht Stunden sind kein Tag
(Eight hours are not a day)
TV Series

Germany 1973



Joan of Arc A TV film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.


Angs vor der Angfst
(Fear oif fear)

Germany 1975



Lover lover lover
Why don't you try
A film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Cohen's songs are are prominently featured.


Like a bird on a wire
(Wie ein Vogel auf dem Draht)

Germany 1975



Bird on a wire A 44 min TV film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In addition to Cohen performing Bird on a wire on the soundtrack, the star of the show Brigitte Mira performs Fassbinder's translation of the lyrics



Fox and His Friends
(Faustrecht der Freiheit)

Germany 1975



Bird on a wire (twice) A film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
The film is protagonized by Fassbinder himself in the role of Frank Biberkopf nickmaked Fox.


Like a bird on a wire
(Wie ein Vogel auf dem Draht)

Germany 1975



Bird on a wire A 44 min TV film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.



A Wedding

USA 1978



Bird on a wire Drama directed by Robert Altman.


Renaldo and Clara

USA 1978



Suzanne
(Joan Baez)
four hour epic from Bob Dylan.


Der Alte
(Episode in TV series)

Germany 1978



Suzanne (twice) Suzanne was played (at least) twice in one 1978 episode of the very successful whodunit-series Der Alte, with Siegfried Lowitz, Bernd Herzsprung. The episode was called Der Spieler.


Berlin Alexanderplatz
(Episode in TV series)

Germany 1980



Chelsea Hotel # 2 In 1980 Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed the TV series ?Berlin Alexanderplatz? based on the novel of the same title by Alfred Döblin. The soundtrack of the last episode (13 + 1, 93 minutes) included Cohen, Janis Joplin (Me and Bobby McGee), and Donovan (Atlantis). The leading roles are: Gunter Lamprecht (as Frank Biberkopf), Gottfried John, Hanna Schygulla, and Barbara Sukowa.


Other tongues

Canada 1984



which song(s)? The filmmaker points a voyeuristic camera into the lives of four people trying to decide who they are and what they want. Musical score by Zone Jaune and Leonard Cohen. Directed by Derek May. Starring Peter Bierman, Linda Lee Tracey. National Film Board of Canada, 57 min.


Adjo solidaritet

Norway 1985



Bird on the wire A self-ironic story of a psychiatrist and his friend, a theatre critic, members of the first big after-war generation; they lived their most important years of youth between 1965 and 1975, years of economic boom and security. Directed by Petter Vennerod and Svend Wam.


Grandeur et d?cadence

France 1986



The Guests "Grandeur et d?cadence d'un petit commerce de cin?ma" (English title: "Rise and Fall of a Little Film Company"), 1986, 90 minutes, is a video film by Godard. The principle actors are Jean-Pierre L?aud, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Marie Val?ra and J.-L. Godard himself. It's made from a thriller by James Hadley Chase. It's a film about the difficulties of making a film. The subject is only a pretext that allows Godard to express himself about cinema as an art and also a relationship between creativity and money.


Puissances de la parole

France 1988



Take this waltz A short film by Jean-Luc Godard's (25 min)


Les matins infid?les

Canada 1988



Suzanne A feature film by Jean Beaudry et Fran?ois Bouvier, produced in 1988 by Les Productions du Lundi Matin, Montr?al.


Love at large

USA 1990



Ain?t no cure for love A romantic comedy about two rival detectives, male and female. Directed by Alan Rudolph, starring Tom Berenger, Anne Archer, Kate Capshaw and Elizabeth Perkins - and even Neil Young. 97 minutes.


Pump up the volume

USA 1990



Everybody knows
If it be your will

Everybody knows
(Concrete Blonde)
A drama directed by Allan Moyle, starring Christian Slater, Ellen Greene and Samantha Mathis. 100 min. Hard Harry, an embittered and angst-ridden teenager, is a school-kid by day and the operator of a pirate radio station by night. One snippet of "If it be your will" and three snippets of "Everybody knows" are heard. On the soundtrack album there is only Concrete Blonde?s version of Everybody knows. A snippet of the Concrete Blonde version appears when the police chase Slater's jeep.


Bird on a wire

USA 1990



Bird on a wire
(The Neville Brothers)
A romantic comedy directed by John Badham. Starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. Murderers force Gibson - who has been hiding in the FBI witness relocating program - and his onetime sweetheart (Hawn) to take it on the lam. 110 min.


Ha chayim alpy Agfa
(The life according to Agfa)

Israel 1992



If it be your will
First we take Manhattan
Chelsea Hotel # 2
Dance me to the end of love
Take this waltz
Who by fire


Drama, directed by Assi Dayan, music by Naftali Alter. Black & white, 90 min. A sad and violent film about youngsters around a bar in Tel Aviv, a story about their lives, hopes, hates and relations to each other - and the Israeli people in general.


Caro diario
(Dear diary)

Italy 1993



I'm your man


A film directed by Nanni Moretti. Story of a hot summer in Rome. Cohen's song is playing while Moretti is riding a scooter through Rome. Awarded for the best scenario at the Festival de Cannes. 100 min.


Both sides of the wire

Canada 1993



Who by fire


This documentary, directed by Neal Livingston, focuses on a group of German and Austrian refugees who were deported from Britain in the summer of 1940 and sent to a Canadian prison camp. These civilian refugees, most of them Jews, were ironically labeled as "dangerous enemy aliens" by the Canadian government, which has since grudgingly acknowledged that the internment was unnecessary. This documentary (based on a book by Ted Jones) reunites the prisoners of war fifty years after their ordeal, detailing the political circumstances which led to their imprisonment, recalling the atmosphere of the camp, and exploring the effect the experience had on their lives. Both Sides of the Wire is Black River's most ambitious film. 60 min.


Le 20 heures dans les camps

France 1993



Everybody knows


Chris Marker's documentary about a group of Bosnian refugees who produce their own news show inside their camp


L'Eau froide
(Cold Water)

France 1994



Avalanche


An extraordinary French movie by Olivier Assayas about teenagers, made for the same series of autobiographical films as Akerman's (see Portrait - 1995 below).


Exotica

Canada 1994



Everybody knows (twice)


Exotica is a strange, compelling movie from Canadian writer/director Atom Egoyan. Bruce Greenwood is a tax adjuster who links a gay pet-shop owner, a baby sitter, and the gentleman's club - Exotica. Mia Kirshner is a beautiful dancer in the club, Egoyan's wife plays the club owner, and Elias Koteas gives a powerful perfomance as a cynical master of ceremonies (strip show barker), past Mia lover, and jealous foil to Greenwood. Cohen's "Everybody Knows" makes a fittingly sensual, sardonic accompaniment to a lap dance fairly early on. Rest of soundtrack is also engaging. The movie won a "Genie" award as Canada's best film of 1994, and Egoyan also received accolades at Cannes. 104 min


When night is falling

Canada 1994



Hallelujah
(Instrumental)


The third feature from Patricia Rozema (best know for "I've heard the mermaids singing"), is a lushy atmospheric if oppressively symbolic account of Camille's death and rebirth as a sexual (lesbian) being. Music by various artists, including the instrumental version of "Hallelujah" at the end of the film.


Natural born killers

USA 1994



Waiting for the miracle
The anthem
The future


A violent drama, directed by Oliver Stone, script by Quentin Tarantino, starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. A hedonistic couple murders more than fifty people on their bloody honeymoon. 119 min Waiting for the miracle and The Future are on the soundtrack CD.
Read an analysis of the movie.


Homicide: Life on the Street
(Episode in TV series)

USA 1995



Suzanne



In episode #40 "Heartbeat" of this TV series, detective Munch comes home and switches on his stereo system. Some upbeat jazz comes on, and he quickly changes to "Suzanne" by Cohen. The song then runs through the first verse.


Le peril jeune

France 1995



Suzanne



C?dric Klapisch, one of the rising stars of the new French generation of directors, offers a brilliant, devastatingly funny depiction of the young French people in the 1970s. Old schoolmates Bruno, Momo, Alain and L?on reunite after a few years' separation at a hospital, where Sophie, the girlfriend of their friend Tomas, who died a week earlier of an overdose, is about to give birth. In turn, they recall the last year in high school: the burning crushes, the demonstrations, the fancies; the tensions between the parents, the teachers, and the young; and the excitement before the finals. The film won the first price at the Festival d'Humour de Chamrousse in 1994.


Portrait of a young girl in Brussels at the end of the 60's

France 1995



Suzanne



Chantal Akerman's beautiful autobiography has a key scene in which two teenagers dance to the entirety of "Suzanne"


Sebastian - When Everybody Knows

Norway/Sweden 1995



Tacoma Trailer
Bengt E. Hansen & Gjermund Silset


Two versions of 'Tacoma Trailer' were used in the 1995 Scandinavian film 'Sebastian'; one with acoustic guitar, the other with piano and strings. Drama, directed by Svend Wam, tells about Sebastian who suddenly realizes that he is attracted to another boy.


Strange Days

USA 1995



Dance me to the end of love
(Kate Gibson)


A paranoid, future-shock action-fantasy-melodrama directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and stars Ralph Fiennes, Julliette Lewis, Angela Bassett, and Tom Sizemore. It is set in LA at New Years - 2000. Fiennes plays Lenny (believe it or not) an ex-cop black marketeer dealing in illegal virtual reality disks -- "like tv only better...straight from the cereberal cortex." Murder, violence, sex -- all without leaving your chair.


Punch Me in the Stomach

USA 1995



Anthem



An one woman show where she plays all the parts of the people in her life. She is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. At the end of the movie, her father is sitting at a private screening in the audience, she walks over to her father and asks him how he liked the show. They then walk out arm in arm and LC's song "Anthem" begins to play.


Breaking the waves

Denmark 1996



Suzanne


This is a praised Danish film in the English language, directed by Lars von Trier, a Dane, and filmed in Scotland. It's a story about a simple-minded, religious woman, who falls in love with an oil worker. She is ready to do anything for him, just anything. Starring Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard. 2:40.


Suzanne

The Slovak Republic 1996



Suzanne (?)


According to a Slovak TV interview with the director Dusan Rapos, this Slovak-Czech coproduction was inspired by Cohen's song (possibly the original or Juraj Kukura's version is also on the soundtrack?) It's a story about a young girl falling in love with an artist who has shown her the way to drugs. Starring Eva Vejmelkova.


Chronicle of a disappearance
(TV documentary)

Israel 1996



First we take Manhattan


An International Film Circuit presentation of a Dhat production produced in association with the Fund for the Promotion of Israeli Quality Film. Director/writer: Elia Suleiman. The film comes in two parts and with two different moods. The first part is entitled Nazareth: A Personal Diary, and the second part Jerusalem: A Political Diary. The director has returned to his homeland after a self-imposed exile of 12 years in New York to tell his story with the use of mostly nonprofessional actors. We get to hear Leonard Cohen sing in his unique and somber tone, as the police blindly invade an Arab apartment to unjustifiably search it. The lyrics reflect about being sentenced to 20 years of boredom.


A perfect candidate

USA 1996



Democracy A fascinating, frequently cynical, repulsive view of American politics; a 'cinema verite' documentary covering the 1994 United States senate campaign between incumbent Charles Robb (L.B. Johnson son-in-law, plagued by Playboy magazine coverage of "massage" administered by 19 year old blonde sex-pot in New York hotel, and attendance at parties where drug use was common) and Oliver North (convicted of lying to Congress in Iran-Contra, but now a Bible-quoting born-again Christian, campaigning on 'traditional' family values). Shown from the points of view of the key North campaign stategist and a senior Washington Post political reporter assigned to the campaign. Cohen's "Democracy," played in full during the final credits, stirs all the right emotional strings.


Lost and found

Hong Kong 1996



Dance me to the end of love



Screenplay by [director] Lee Chi-Ngai. A beautiful woman (Kelly Chan) has leukemia, but learns how to live, and with whom to fall in love, (Takeshi Kaneshiro, or Michael [Fitzgerald] Wong). In spite of the sad starting point, the film has a graceful, lively, kind of witty tone that supports the story, about loss and death, without undue melancholy.


Basquiat

USA 1996



Hallelujah
(John Cale)



Basquiat tells the story of the rise and fall of youthful black graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Starting out in New York's Tompkins Square Park in a cardboard box, Jean-Michel is "discovered" by Andy Warhol's art world and becomes an 80's sensation, before dying of a drug overdose at 27. Directed by painter Julian Schnabel, the film features a number of big stars, including Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Walken, Parker Posey, and Benicio Del Toro. Tatum O'Neal, Courtney Love and Isabella Rossellini have small cameos. Jeffrey Wright gives a strong performance as Basquiat, and Claire Folani is heartbreaking in her role as his girlfriend. The closing sequence leads wonderfully to Cale's Hallelujah, done over the closing credits. The soundtrack includes Van Morrison and Tom Waits, among others. David Bowie does the final song and makes an excellent Andy Warhol.


River Street

Australia 1996



Hallelujah
(Simon Austin)



Story of a young, aggressive and successful business man who ends up, sentenced by a judge, in a community centre where he has to do social work with socially misadapted people. Directed by Tony Mahood. Cast: Aden Young, Bill Hunter, Tammy McIntosh, Joy Smithers, Essie Davis, and Sullivan Stapleton. The soundtrack features a very nice guitar & voice cover of Cohen's "Hallelujah" (by the Australian singer Simon Austin) in the ending generic.


Portraits Chinois

France 1996



Dance me to the end of love




French film directed by Martine Dugowson (also known as "Shadow Play") is an intense exploration of the romantic and existential issues facing a group of 20- and 30-something Parisians and stars Helena Bonham Carter. In one scene she does a charming semi-drunken dance to Leonard's song.


Chronicle of a Disappearance

Palestina 1996



First we take Manhattan




A film by Israeli Arab film director and actor Elia Suleiman, his first feature film.


Kindred: The Embraced
(Episode in TV series)

USA 1996



Waiting for the miracle
2nd episode of the first (and only) season of this series based on the White Wolf role-playing game, Vampire: the Masquerade. Cohen's song is playing for 3 minutes, with dialogs over the song.

Love etc.

France 1997



Take this waltz



The storyline deals with three young people and love. Directed by Marion Vernoux. Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, and Charles Berling.


True love and chaos

Australia 1997



So long, Marianne
One of us cannot be wrong
Bird on a wire



Directed by Stavros Efthymiou. The main actor, Hugo Weaving, sings several Cohen songs in full: So Long Marianne (a rock-band version) and One of us cannot be wrong (solo acoustic)


Platinum

Canada 1997



Democracy
Waiting for the miracle



A knee slappin', head bangin', rump shakin' peek inside the star-making machines of the music biz. That's how director Bruce McDonald describes his made-for-TV movie. This two hour film is the satirical story of a small, independent Montreal record label and its efforts and misadventures as it tries to sign and retain its volatile singers and bands. The film opens with Leonard Cohen?s Democracy (instrumental portion only). Shot from a long range lens and from above, a car rolls into the scene and parks on the bird and blue heart logo from Cohen?s The Future album. About one hour and a half into the film, L.Cohen?s Waiting for the Miracle is featured as female band members walk in slow motion to the office building of a rival record label to sign a contract.


Sara

Poland 1997



I'm your man
Boguslaw Linda


If it be your will
(Agnieszka Wlodarczyk)


Sara is 16 years old. Her father - a kind of Godfather type - needs a bodyguard for her. He employs Leon (Boguslaw Linda - Polish Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis mixed together), an ex-commando (former member of Polish Special Forces) with a drinking problem. His wife has left him because of that. Sara?s father says he will kill anyone who touches his daughter. Soon Sara and Leon become lovers. There is a lot of killing - definitely B or rather C class movie. Directed by Maciej Slesicki.


Heaven before I die

Canada 1997



Dance me to the end of love


Director: Izidore K. Musallam. Cast: Andy Velasquez, Giancarlo Giannini, Omar Sharif. A young misfit leaves his native Palestine for a new life in Canada, hoping to escape the ridicule he's experienced because of his turned-out feet and Chaplinesque waddling gait. His journey of self-discovery brings him into contact with a cast of colorful characters, including a kind thief and 'The Prophet' author Kahlil Gibran.


Mr. Jealousy

USA 1998



Hey, that's no way to say goodbye


A comedy with Eric Stoltz and Annabella Sciorra as the leading lovers, fine cameos by Peter Bogdanovich and Bridget Fonda, and some good songs on the soundtrack (also John Lennon's Jealous Guy and others by Luna). The movie is about Lester, a very jealous substitute teacher. He is jealous about the last boyfriend of his current partner Ramona. So he joins her ex- boyfriend's therapy group under an alias to find out if she has any feelings for him. Cohen's song is used at a critical moment of the plot, and even though only a little over two minutes is played (with several visuals, and one fairly long black screen) it makes an effective contribution to the movie.


El tiempo de la felicidad

Spain 1998



Bird on a wire


A Manuel Iborra film starring by Ver?nica Forqu? and Antonio Resines. Cohen's song is the leitmotiv of the movie, and you can hear it several times. The film is a comedy about a bohemian family living on Ibiza in the 70's.


Kiss the sky

USA 1998



Tower of song
The future
Waiting for the miracle
Dance me to the end of love
Take this longing
Teachers
Ain't no cure for love

Bird on the wire

(Jennifer Warnes)



Directed by Roger Young. MGM, 105 minutes. Starring Gary Cole, Sheryl Lee, William Petersen, Terence Stamp. Two businessmen ? in search of themselves ? leave the ?rat race? and their families behind to live peacefully on a tropical island until their mutual love for a beautiful woman drives them apart!
Read the review by Dick Straub.


Krutyje. Smertel?noje show

Russia 1998



Dance me to the end of love



Cohen's songs was heard in the Russian thriller/detective story "Krutyje. Smertel?noje show" ("Cool Guys. The Internecine Show") - it was playing in the background when the main characters, specialists in crime detection, celebrated successful end of investigation in a caf?. The film was directed by Igor Shavlak.


Sex TV
(TV series)

Canada 199X



Everybody knows
Ain't no cure for love



Every 30 min episode in this erotic documentary starts and ends with Cohen's songs!


More tales of the city
(Episode in TV series)

USA 1999



Suzanne


The second last episode of the TV series, based on the books by Armistead Maupin.


Just Watch Me: Trudeau and The 70's Generation

Canada 1999



Which song(s)?


Canadian director Catherine Annau's debut work is a documentary about the legacy of Pierre Trudeau, the long-running Prime Minister of Canada, who governed during the 1970s. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada.


Siam sunset

Australia 1999



Hallelujah
(Vince Jones)


Director: John Polson. A lightweight comedy about a British man who travels across Australia in a bus, meets a cast of eccentric people, overcomes his grief over his deceased wife, and starts life anew. It features prominently, over a montage sequence, a cover of Hallelujah by famous Australian jazz artist Vince Jones.


Spanish fly

Spain/USA 1999



Hey, that's no way to say goodbye


Written and directed by Daphna Kastner. Starring Daphna Kastner and Toni Canto. Produced by Nella Banfi. A Miramax release. Drama. Zoe (Daphna Kastner), a sexually rigid journalist, goes to Spain to research a book about machismo and finds more than she bargained for.


Wonder boys

USA 2000



Waiting for the miracle


This film features music from some of the world's most popular and acclaimed singer/songwriters - including Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Van Morrison, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen. The film was directed by Academy Award-winner Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), produced by Scott Rudin and Hanson, and starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Katie Holmes, Rip Torn and Robert Downey, Jr.


I cento passi

Italy 2000



Suzanne
Performer unknown


This movie was filmed in a small town in Sicily and directed by Marco Tullio Giordana


Shrek

USA 2001



Hallelujah
(John Cale)


Shrek is DreamWorks Pictures' animated comedy adventure, "the greatest fairy tale never told". A reclusive ogre and a chatterbox donkey go on a quest to rescue a princess for a tyrannical midget lord. On the soundtrack CD the song is performed by Rufus Wainwright (John Cale performs the song in the actual movie).


Ab Fab
(TV series)

UK 2001



Bird on the wire
(Jennifer Saunders)


"Absolute Fabulous" stars Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, and follows the adventures of two highly superficial women as they offend everyone with whom they come into contact. In the episode ("Jealous", transmitted on April 27, 1995, in series 3) Saunders gets drunk at a public relations industry award night and is called on to give a speech. Being barely coherent she launches into a spoken version of Bird on a Wire.


Dancing at the Blue Iguana

USA 2001



Dance me to the end of love



The San Fernando Valley watering hole at the center of Michael Radford's moody film "Dancing at the Blue Iguana" is a strip club in which the bare-breasted dancers writhe and slither to the ominous drone of Leonard Cohen singing "Dance Me to the End of Love." That may not be the sort of music you would expect to hear in such a place. But then the Blue Iguana isn't just any old West Coast fleshpot but a microcosm of this sad, lonely world and its lost female souls who cater to male lust.


Ball and Chain

USA 2001



Chelsea Hotel # 2



30 min documentary presents the story of the lonesome rock star Janis Joplin just before her death in October 1970. In the famous Chelsea Hotel in New York, Janis - alone, drunk and under the influence of drugs - tries to seduce a young black waiter. But he has some questions for her about colour of the skin,drugs and music. The last scene ends with Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel #2" heard in the background.

Once And Again
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2001



Sisters of Mercy


"Sisters" is heard playing throughout a long closing scene of this episode ("Visit of a fragile man") - Aron, Lily's brother, leaves her house to return to the hospital.


Hombres Felices

Spain 2001



Take this waltz


Spanish comedy directed by Roberto Santiago, starring Sergi L?pez and Aitana S?nchez-Gij?n. Filmed in Tenerife (Canary Islands). Take This Waltz is playing no less than three times!

Judging Amy
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2001



Everybody knows
(Don Henley)


Cohen's song is used on the soundtrack of episode # 219


Dead Zone
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2001



Hallelujah
(Anthony Michael Hall)


Cohen's song is used on the soundtrack of one of the first season episodes


Amnesia

Italy 2002



In my secret life


Cohen's new song is used twice on the soundtrack. The film was directed by Gabriele Salvatores. A "junkie" film...young freaky people on Ibiza.


Pomor Tuljana

Croatia 2002



Everybody Knows


This Croatian short film was the graduate work by Ivan Goran Vitez.


West Wing
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2002



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Hallelujah was featured on the last Spring 2002 episode "Posse Comitatus" of this highly esteemed US TV series.


Secretary

USA 2002



I'm your man


A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one. Directed by Steven Shainberg. Starring by E. Edward Grey and Lee Holloway. The Cohen song sets the town for a sequence that demonstrates her growing love for the attorney, and willingness to do anything for him.


L'Imbalsamatore
(The Embalmer)

Italy 2002



I'm your man


A great and somehow disturbing movie directed by Matteo Garrone. Peppino (Ernesto Mahieux) is an aging taxidermist constantly ridiculed for being short and somewhat creepy. He meets Valerio (Valerio Folgia Manzillo), a handsome young man fascinated by Peppino's work. Peppino, in turn, becomes entranced by Valerio and offers him a large salary to come work as his assistant. But when Valerio meets Deborah (Elisabetta Rocchetti), their fledgling romance is threatened by an insanely jealous third wheel.


The Good Thief

USA 2003



A thousand kisses deep


Neil Jordan's thriller, starring Nick Nolte, Ryan Phillippe and Ralph Fiennes. The film is a remake of Jean Pierre Melville's "Bob le Flambeur" (1955). The story revolves around an aging gambler and heroin addict planning a major Monte Carlo heist.


The Best of Youth
(La Meglio gioventy)

Italy 2003



Suzanne


Italian drama directed by Marco Tullio Giordana.


The Gin Game

USA 2003



Take this waltz
(Scott Trammel)


This is a PBS Hollywood Presents television version of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize winning play by D.L. Coburn. The original play, with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, did not have a dance scene. The scene was added during a 1997 Broadway revival starring Julie Harris and Charles Durning. (Cohen's sister Esther recalls that the song was played at intermission as well as during the dance sequence in that revival.) This 2003 public television show stars Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. The play is set in a nursing home. When Mary Tyler Moore's character notices music from a dance class, she says the waltz is beautiful. Dick Van Dyke's character grumbles that the song is too long and that the words are "just crazy." They eventually do dance to it in a very moving scene. The author explains that Julie Harris suggested the dance scene, and that he originally rejected the idea. After he and his wife listened to "Take This Waltz" during dinner one evening he changed his mind. The au! thor now writes, "I do not see the dance scene as an option for producers at this point. Not only do I not see this as a modular scene that can be plugged in or out at a director's discretion, but I also don't want any other choice of music to be made because "Take This Waltz" inspired me to write this scene. I'd like it to be a part of the play as long as the rights are available."


OC
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2003



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Hallelujah was used on the soundtrack of the 2nd episode in the new FOX series about a young man who gets into trouble in his hometown and is shipped off to live with relatives in Newport Beach, CA, which is in Orange County, hence the name "OC". The song was again used in the season finale.


Without A Trace
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2003



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Jeff Buckley version of Hallelujah was also in the episode "Fallout", the season ending show for Without A Trace, a CBS program.


Crossing Jordan
Third Watch
Scrubs
(Episodes in these TV series)

USA 2003-2004



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


These shows used snippets of the song


Crash Burn
(Episodes in TV series)

Australia 2003



Dance me to the end of love
(Mark Seymour)


When Ben and Rosie?s ten year marriage hits the wall, the resulting debris also hits their friends. The story of their trial separation is told in two distinct halves ? his and hers. The new series from CoxKnight taps into the dilemma of modern relationships. The lead track: ?Dance Me To The End Of Love?, penned by Leonard Cohen, echoes beneath the opening credits of every episode, and at the end of the very last episode, as a closing finale to the series. This version was specially commissioned for Crashburn and features the vocals of Mark Seymour.


The Favourite Game

Canada 2003



You know who I am
Suzanne (the riff only)
Who by fire
True love leaves no traces
Dress rehearsal rag
A 1000 kisses deep



The film is based on the novel by Leonard Cohen. At 28 years of age, poet Leo Breavman takes his memories of childhood and his female conquests as a starting point to create his work. In full identity crisis, he puts an end to his torrid liaison with Tamara in order to spend some time in New York. While writing in a coffee shop, Leo shares a glance with Shell, a graphic designer who divides her time between Montreal and New York. Not long after, the young woman leaves her husband and engages in a passionate affair with the poet. Drama, 90 mins. Directed by Bernar H?bert, produced by Michel Ouellette for Cine Qua Non Films. Screenplay Bernar H?bert, Peter Putka. - Read more


Amateur Man
(Two episodes in TV series)

Greece 2003



Waiting for the miracle
Be for real



"Amateur Man" is a Greek daily drama about a medicine student who becomes a prostitute. In one episode the bad-tempered heroine goes to her room and turns on the radio. "Waiting for the miracle" is on the air at the moment. In the other episode a company is drinking and talking in a bar. The music in the background is "Be for real".


Kotikatu
(Episode in TV series)

Finland 2003



Dance me to the end of love



Cohen's song was used in the first Fall 2003 episode of this very popular Finnish drama series; a female priest is thinking about her love affairs while Cohen's song is heard on the radio.


Karen Sisco
(Episodes in TV series)

USA 2003



Chelsea Hotel # 2



The third episode of Karen Sisco (A new TV series in the style of "Alias") is the one featuring Chelsea Hotel #2. Much of the song as recorded by Leonard is played, with the obvious deletion of a few lyrics about unmade beds. Of interest is that the song plays a real role in the plot, and that the characters say it is a Leonard Cohen song.


Adieu Pays

France 2003



Hey, that's no way to say goodbye



Drama comedy directed by Philippe Ramos, starring Philippe Garziano, Fr?d?ric Bonpart, Julie Depardieu, Fran?oise Descarrega, and Violeta Ferrer. Serge and Vincent Nortier, two brothers at the head of the familial sawmill; doctor Claire Tissot (who has a nocturnal affair with Vincent); her daughter Fanny; and the poacher Barthoulot (sworn enemy of the Nortier clan) live in Mantaille, a quiet little village. When Carole, niece of Barthoulot, is passing by the village on her way to Qu?bec to begin a new life in America, Vincent falls in love with her despite the clan's rules, but Serge is ready to do anything to keep the clan together. A story told like a Western movie.


The life of David Gale

France 2003



First we take Manhattan



Thriller directed by Alan Parker, starring Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney, and Kate Winslet. The film tells of a professor and advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty in Texas, who gets convicted and sentenced to death for murder. David Gale goes to a party where he ends up with the girl named Berlin. One of the songs playing at the party was First We Take Manhattan....so you could kinda guess they were going to be together...


Nathalie

France 2004



Boogie Street



A dramatic comedy by Anne Fontaine tells about a man (G?rard Depardieu) and a woman (Fanny Ardant), who are in their fifties and married together since about 30 years, trying to solve the problems in their fading sexuality with the help of a young prostitute (Emmanuelle B?art) called Nathalie. During a suggestive but sensitive dance of Nathalie around a thin metal column, we hear Leonard singing "A sip of wine, a cigarette..."


Saint Ralph

Canada 2004



Hallelujah
(Gord Downie)


Saint Ralph is the unlikely story of Ralph Walker, a ninth grader who outran everyone's expectations except his own in his bold quest of trying to win the 1954 Boston Marathon.


L Word
(Episodes in TV series)

USA 2004, 2005



In my secret life
I'm your man
Coming back to you
(original versions)

Hallelujah
(Rufus Wainwright)




"In My Secret Life" is sung in the fourth episode of the "L Word" shown weekly on Showtime. The song can be heard during the last minutes of the show and during credits. "Hallelujah" performed by Rufus Wainwright is on the soundtrack of a later episode (and also on the soundtrack album), and finally "I'm your man" can be heard in the last episode of the season. . - The "L Word" is a new series depicting the life of a group of lesbian friends.

In the "Luminous" episode (2005 /season 2, episode 7) Leonard was doing "Coming back to You" during the closing credits.


The last days of The San Jose

USA 2004



Hallelujah
(Rufus Wainwright)


A documentary of 90 mins, part ghost story, part video diary, part sociological investigation, story of the lives of both the long term and transitory denizens of the San Jose Motel. Once a charming family motor court in Texas, now one of the last residential hotels on Austin's trip, in disrepair and a haven for the down and out, recovering and most wanted.


Joan of Arcadia
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2004



Hallelujah



"Hallelujah" is used in episode # 115 of the series.


Lobo

Spain 2004



The Partisan



A drama directed by Miguel Courtois, starring Eduardo Noriega and Jos? Coronado. The movie is based on a true story about a Spanish spy who joins the ETA in 1973.


LAX
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2004



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


"Hallelujah" is played at conclusion of the episode "Thanksgiving" of the new drama show based on guys in charge of the Los Angeles International airport (LAX).


Amnesia

Italy 2004



In my secret life



Diego is a porno movie producer whose young daughter (Stella) is unaware of her dad's activities. She travels to Ibiza to meet her father. Stella has a secret of her own: she is pregnant and wants abortion. At the same time Sergio finds a suitcase full of cocaine and the nightmare begins.


Nel mio amore (Inside my love)

Italy 2004



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


A film directed by Susanna Tamaro, the well-known Italian novelist and movie maker.


Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei
Edukators

Germany 2004



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Crime drama directed by Hans Weingartner. Berlin student Jule is hoplessly indebted due to an accident she caused, uninsuredly hitting a rich businessman's limousine. Evicted from her flat she moves in with her boyfrend Peter and soon learns that Peter and his flatmate, Jan, are breaking into luxurious mansions at night. Instead of stealing or vandalizing, though, they carefully and ornately rearrange furniture and valulables and leave obscure messages. Jule convinces Jan, who has a crush on her, to pay a visit to the villa of her creditor..Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley is a significant part of the last half hour or so of the film, played repeatedly through to the end of the film.


Non ti muovere

Italy 2004



If it be your will



This drama directed by Sergio Castellitto is based on a novel written by the director's wife Margaret Mazzantini.


Land of Plenty

USA 2004



The land of plenty
The letters



The new film of the famous German director Wim Wenders [Buena Vista Social Club!] will first be shown at the Venice film festival in September 2004. After years of living abroad with her American missionary father, Lana returns to the United States to begin her studies. But instead of focusing on her education, Lana sets out to find her only other living relative - her uncle Paul, her deceased mother?s brother. A Vietnam veteran, Paul is a reclusive vagabond with deep emotional war wounds. A tragic event witnessed by the two unites them in a common goal to rectify a wrong, and takes them on a journey of healing, discovery, and kinship. (Synopsis courtesy of ncta.com). Two Cohen songs are said to play an important role in the movie. Starring Michelle Williams, John Diehl, Richard Edson, Gloria Stewart. Filming took place in Los Angeles, California Desert Towns and New York.


Duck

USA 2004



Love Itself
Anthem



In 2009, Arthur, an elderly widower (Philip Baker Hall) comes to the end of the line when his wife dies. Broke and lonely, he is about to commit suicide when he encounters a precious baby duck, which becomes his constant companion. After Arthur becomes the latest victim of the bankrupt and privatized near-future, he and his companion animal face homelessness. Director/writer Nic Bettauer demonstrates his background as a volunteer crisis counselor in a scene where Arthur talks a young man out of ending it all. This indie film was shot in just 18 days.


A Home at the End
of the World

USA 2004



Suzanne
This film directed by Michael Mayer is based on Michael Cunningham's novel A Home at the End of the World. The album cover of Songs of Leonard Cohen is also prominently shown, and the main character takes out the LP and puts it onto the record player.


The Last Trapper

Canada 2004



By the rivers dark
The Last Trapper is a film intended to draw spectators into the world of a real-life character by showing him experience?and sometimes re-enact?various moments and selected episodes of his life. Directed by Nicolas Vanier, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.


Mosca & Smith En El Once
(TV series)

Argentina 2005



I'm your man


New TV crime comedy tells about two police officers (Fabi?n Vena and Pablo Rago).


Vinterkyss
(Winter Kiss)

Norway 2005



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Buckley's Hallelujah appears several times in this sad drama; a story about losing a child and the parents' reaction of grief.


House, MD

USA 2005



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Season 2 opener of "House, MD" used Buckley's Hallelujah at conclusion (Not full song - about 3 minutes). House, MD is a medical mystery; Hugh Laurie stars as a brilliant, but sarcastic Dr. Gregory House, a maverick physician who is devoid of bedside manner. While is behavior can border on antisocial, Dr. House thrives on the challenge of solving medical puzzles that other doctors give up on.



Nip & Tuck

USA 2005



Dance me to the end of love
(Madeleine Peyroux)


Set in the high-gloss city of Miami, Nip/Tuck explores the lives of two hot-shot plastic surgeons. The song is used in the 2nd season opener. Very poignant scene -- something on the order of Gilbert Grape - not sexy, but definitely moving.



L'Audition

Canada 2005



Hallelujah
(Original version)


A movie by director and actor Luc Picard. The story of Louis, a collector guy for loan sharks, a bone braker. His job is to scare people. Louis has always secretly dreamed of becoming an actor and one day he is offered the opportunity to audition for a major director. His life is at a turning point. The movie won Grand Prize at the new Festival de Films de Montr?al. The song comes in at a key moment of the movie, in a crescendo that is very touching. It even seems to interfere with the action on screen and you understand exactly why only at the end.


This Beggar's Description

Canada 2005



Suzanne, Who by fire, If it be your will, Guests, Anthem, Partisan



A sensitive, moving doc chronicling the life of Philip T?trault, a Montreal poet, musician and diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. A promising athlete as a child, Philip began experiencing mood swings in his early 20s. His extended family, including his daughter, share their conflicted feelings love, guilt, shame, anger with the camera. They want to make sure he's safe, but how much can they take? Director/writer Pierre T?trault (brother of Philip), former artistic director of Young People's Theatre, uses lots of shattered, hazy imagery and some discordant music (by Donald Quan ) for ambience. Songs by Leonard Cohen also add a running commentary, and Cohen, himself a long-time admirer of Philip's poetry, makes a poignant appearance at the film's end. If you have the DVD be sure to also watch the special feature "Picnic in the park - shooting the breeze with Leonard Cohen"


Lord of War

USA 2005



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


This film charts the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov, from his early days in the early 1980s in Little Odessa, selling guns to mobsters in his local neighbourhood, through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 90s, where he forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son. The song appears in the last few minutes of the movie.


Lost
(TV series)

USA 2005



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


the show's season one finale ended with Hallelujah

Holby City
(TV series)

UK 2005



Hallelujah
(Lola)


Lola sings Hallelujah at the end of the episode "The Long Goodbye by Debbie O'Malley" (season 8,episode 10).

Hatching, Matching & Dispatching
(TV series)

Canada 2006



The Future
??


In outport Newfoundland, it is often left to one enterprising family to literally taxi the residents of the town from cradle to grave-offering wedding, funeral and ambulance services all under the same roof. Mary Welsh's new show is about one such family, the Fureys. "The Future" is sung in punk style in a wedding scene.

Failure to launch

USA 2006



Dance me to the end of love
Madeleine Peyroux


Comedy, directed by Tom Dey. A thirtysomething slacker suspects his parents of setting him up with his dream girl so he'll finally vacate their home.

Wedding Stories

UK 2006



Joan of Arc



A BBC 3 documentary about people of different religions getting married. Christians Anna and Sam prepare for a spectacular wedding, whilst Jacqui and Tony struggle to plan their fairy tale nuptials in the midst of a family fraud. Joan of Arc is played half way through the programme.

Falcon Beach
(TV series)

USA 2006



Hallelujah
(Jenny Galt)


The town's water tower is the scene of a poignant reunion between childhood friends, Jason, Tanya and Danny. It resonates to the haunting words and melody of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah, performed specially for the movie by Jenny Galt of the Vancouver-based duo Cherrybomb.

Marilyn Monroe:
Still life
(TV documentary)

USA 2006



I'm your man



On PBS TV in this episode of the American Masters series, in a segment with photographer Douglas Kirkland, there is the instrumental lead-in of "I'm your man," with Kirkland speaking, and then about 40 seconds of Leonard singing over images of Monroe.

Cold Case
(TV series)

USA 200X



I'm your man
Hallelujah




This series is another one in the trend of forensic/detective series in american TV in recent years; this particular series focuses on FBI detectives reopening unsolved murders from years before. In one of the episodes, the investigation involves a hidden love affair between two women; in one segment, a flashback shows one of them dressed up as a man and lypsinc'ing all (or most of) the verses of "I'm your man" to the other in a parking lot.
- According to latest information, the episode "Countdown" (# 20, season 3) uses Hallelujah on the soundtrack.


OC
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2006



Hallelujah
Imogen Heap


Hallelujah was used again in the very last episode of the third Season ("Graduates", episode # 76) in which Marissa dies.


Salvador (Puig Antich)

Spain 2006



Suzanne



The film tells the story of an anarchist executed in March 1974 in the prison called "Modelo" in Barcelona. Directed by Manuel Huerga and acting Daniel Br?hl, Trist?n Ulloa, Leonor Walting, Joel Joan, Ingrid Rubio... Music by Lluis LLach and international artists (Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan...)

Numb3rs
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2006



Hallelujah

(K D Lang)


The October 6, 2006 episode of this CBS series was called Provenance and dealt with a the theft of a painting which turned out was originally stolen from a jewish family by the Nazis in WWII.

Deliver Us from Evil

USA 2006



Hallelujah
Joseph Arthur


Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Hallelujah was playing over the credits.


Criminal Minds
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2006



Hallelujah
(which version?)


Hallelujah was used in the October 17, 2006 episode "A Real Rain". Gideon, Hotchner and their team investigate a series of killings that appear to be the work of a vigilante.


Monkey Warfare

Canada 2006



The old revolution



Dan and Linda are ex-revolutionaries who live underground and survive by cruising garage sales for buried treasures they sell on the internet. Directed by Reginald Harkema


Veronica Mars
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2007



A thousand kisses deep



Episode #311 - "Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves": "After last week's LoVe reunion, the couple shared a sweet pillow-talk moment, baring their souls over Leonard Cohen's A thousand Kisses Deep."


Duck

USA 2007



Love itself
Anthem



In 2009, when Los Angeles' last city park is closed to the public, a dispossessed man -- and the duck who follows him as a mother -- quest west, on foot, in search of water and meaning, in the desert that is LA. The film, directed by Nic Bettauer, opens with "Love Itself" and closes with "Anthem".


Wide Awake

USA 2007



In my secret life


This documentary produced, directed, written & edited by Alan Berliner puts his struggle with insomnia under the microscope.


Ugly Betty
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2007



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


Hallelujah was used in the episode "A nice day for a posh wedding", episode # 30, season 2.


ER
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2007



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


According to a message on the LC Forum ER has now joined the ever growing group of TV series that have used Hallelujah!


The King of Kong

USA 2007



Everybody knows


In 1982, a teenager named Billy Mitchell showed up at a Life magazine photo shoot of the world's best video game players, walked into an arcade and set a world record score for Donkey Kong that destroyed what anybody else had been able to do up to that point. This is the beginning of this brisk-paced new documentary directed by Seth Gordon and produced byt Ed Cunningham.


Lost
(TV series)

USA 2007



Hallelujah
(Imogen Heap)


According to Wikipedia, the third season of the show closed (again) with the haunting rendition of Hallelujah

Salvador

Spain 2007



Suzanne


Based on a true story, this intense biopic, directed by Manuel Huerga, tells of the doomed life of the young Catalan militant in the Iberian Liberation Movement and the desperate attempts of his family and friends to stay his execution.

Bosque de sombras
Backwoods (English title)

Spain 2007



There is a war
Lover lover lover



While on a 1978 hunting vacation in Spain, two British men discover a young girl with deformaties locked up in a cabin in the woods. Directed by Koldo Serra.

Feast of Love

USA 2007



Hallelujah
(Jeff Buckley)


This Morgan Freeman/Robert Benton film includes Hallelujah in a key love scene.

Scrubs
(TV series)

USA 2007



Hallelujah
(John Cale)


Virtually every show from The West Wing to The O.C. has used "Hallelujah" at some point, and Scrubs was no exception, whipping it out in only its fourth episode.

Lucky You

USA 2007



Dance me to the end of love
(Madeleine Peyroux)


A hotshot poker player tries to win a tournament in Vegas, but is fighting a losing battle with his personal problems. Directed by Curtis Hanson. About 10 minutes into the movie the song is performed live by Madeleine Peyroux at a club.

One Tree Hill
(TV series)

USA 2008



Hallelujah
(Kate Voegele)


One Tree Hill episode on Monday, May 12, used Hallelujah at the end.

October Road
(TV series)

USA 2008



Everybody knows



October Road, the ABC drama series used Everybody knows in one of the Spring 2008 episodes

Elegy [oder die Kunst zu lieben]

USA 2008



Dance me to the end of love
Madeleine Peyroux


Elegy, directed by Isabel Coixet, is the passionate story of a love affair between a college professor and a beautiful young woman.

The Tender Hook

Australia 2008



I'm your man
Hugo Weaving


The movie, directed by Jonathan Ogilvie, is set at the time the Sydney Harbour Bridge is being built, the Liberal and Labor parties were still forming and when underworld crime was powerful in the city.

Adagio Sostenuto

Brazil 2008



The Great Event


The film, directed by Pompeu Aguiar, tells the love story between Anna and Jos?, while at the same time approaches the intersections of urban violence and artistic creation, nature and civilization, war and peace, life and death, abandon and union, showing that in the end of our path we are still coping with mystery, emptiness and transcendence.

The Escapist

UK/Ireland 2008



The Partisan
A mystery film about a brother and sister who live their whole lives in a mansion not knowing each other. One day they meet between the floorboards.

MR 73

France 2008



Avalanche
A thriller directed by Olivier Marchal. In its first sequence, the actor Daniel Auteil is driving in a rainy night in his car while "Avalanche" is played.

Watchmen

USA 2009



Hallelujah
First we take Manhattan




An adaptation of one of the most ambitious super hero comic books, directed by Zack Snyder. Three minutes of Hallelujah is used, and FWTM over the closing credits.

Sugar

USA 2009



Hallelujah
??


Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos is recruited to play in the U.S. minor-leagues. Deep into the film, written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, a Spanish language version of Leonard Cohen?s modern-day secular hymn ?Hallelujah? seems to sharpen the emotional focus of the tale. The song is reprised during the final credits.

Lie To Me
(TV series)

USA 2009



Who by fire



"Who by fire" was playing as episode 13, titled "Sacrifice", of the first season started.

Good Morning England
(The Boat That Rocked)

UK 2009



So long, Marianne



A film by Richard Curtis about a clandestine Sixties' pirate-radio ship

Passenger Side

Canada 2009



Suzanne


A comic drama directed by Matthew Bissonnette about two brothers as they drive around Los Angeles, bickering and insulting one another.

Il grande sogno

Italy 2009



Suzanne
Violante Placido


A drama directed by Michele Placido about the students' revolution in 1968 at the University of Rome

Damages (TV series)

USA 2010



Everybody knows
Holly Figueroa


In the season finale of the TV series, Holly Figueroa's rendition of "Everybody Knows" is used over the end credits (in a very effectful way).

Parenthood (TV series)

USA 2010



Bird on a wire



The main couple's teenage daughter is depressed over a breakup and is playing loud music in her room. The parents barge in and we hear it's Leonard singing BoaW. The mom goes over and switches it off, saying "I really love Neil Diamond or whoever this is too but you have to get out of bed."

Barney's Version

USA 2010



I'm your man (2x)
Dance me to the end of love




Barney Panofsky, a hard-drinking, cigar-smoking, foulmouthed 65-year old hockey fanatic and television producer reflects on his life's successes and (numerous) gaffes and failures as the final chapters of his own existence come sharply into focus. Based on the novel by Mordecai Richler, directed by Richard J Lewis.

Criminal Minds (TV series)

USA 2010



The night comes on
Dance me to the end of love
Sisters of mercy
Who by fire





The season premiere of Criminal Minds (The Longest Night) featured no less than four original Cohen songs! (Episode summary: In the conclusion of last season's cliffhanger, the BAU pursues Billy Flynn, who has kidnapped Det. Spicer's daughter and continues his murder spree throughout the city of Los Angeles.)

Life Unexpected (TV series)

USA 2010



Blue Alert

Garrison Starr



Episode 206 ("Honeymoon Interrupted") uses some verses of Blue Alert.

Trauma (TV series)

USA 2010



In my secret life
Hallelujah





Trauma is a NBC television series which focused on a group of paramedics in San Francisco.

General Hospital (TV series)

USA 2010



Hallelujah
Scott Reeves
Hallelujah
Jeff Buckley




"Bus scenes in the December 29, 2010 episode were either a discussion of Hallelujah, and how it bridges a generation gap between the 40-somethings and the teens on the bus, and then the character Steve started playing Hallelujah, and the whole bus sang along"
In the first January 2011 episode Jeff Buckley's version of the same song was used.

Life As We Know It

USA 2010



Hey, that's no ways to say goodbye
Roberta Flack




Comedy, directed by Greg Berlanti: Two single adults become caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual best friends die in an accident

Abraxsas Festival

Japan 2010



Hallelujah
???

Barney's Version

USA 2010



I'm your man
Dance me to the end of love

The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky. Director: Richard J. Lewis

Sons of Anarchy
(Episode in TV series)

USA 2010



Bird on a wire

Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
A man in his early 30s struggles to find a balance in his life between being a new dad and his involvement in a motorcycle club.

45 m2

Greece 2010



Famous blue raincoat
Vassilikos
A Greek film written and directed by Stratos Tzitzis explores the struggle of Greece's "700 euros generation".Among the former renter's belongings that change the the life of a young woman are Leonard Cohen's CDs and Cavafy's poetry. The main music theme of the film is "Famous Blue Raincoat" covered by Vassilikos.

Le bruit des glaçons
(The Clink of Ice)

France 2010



A thousand kisses deep
A black comedy written and directed by Bertrand Blier. An alcoholic writer is visited by an incarnation of his cancer [IMBD].

Der Bergdoktor
(TV Series)

Germany 2010



Hallelujah
Cohen's song has been used twice: first in the episode "Lonely Decision", and later the song is leading theme in the episode "Find the Calm"

Pranayam
("Love")

India 2011



I'm your man Matthews, a retired philosophy professor is on a wheelchair; half of him is paralysed. He is in a nightclub with his wife and her ex-husband. Mathews sings I'm Your Man, face muscles straining voice loud but quivering. The film was produced and directed by Blessy.

Generation P / Generation П

Russia 2011



Democracy
A chronicle of the rise of the advertising industry in Post-Soviet Russia.

A Thousand Kisses Deep

UK 2011



A Thousand Kisses Deep
A psychological thriller directed by Dana Lustig.

The Art of Getting By

USA 2011



Winter Lady
The movie stars Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts as high school friends who develop feelings for each other. The scene featuring "Winter Lady" is while Freddie Highmore's character is lying on his bed at home with his arms behind his head. He puts on his CD player and you hear Leonard singing "Winter Lady." He is interrupted several times by a cell phone call, which he does not take, his mother knocking on the door and his stepfather knocking on the door. After each interruption, he keeps restarting the song and ultimately, the entire song is played.

Take This Waltz

Canada 2011



Take This Waltz
(original)
Closing Time
Feist
Drama comedy directed by Sarah Polley. A happily married woman falls for the artist who lives across the street.

Homeland
(TV series)

USA 2011



Everybody knows In its first season in the fall of 2011, in episode 9, entitled "Crossfire," the episode ends with "Everybody Knows" sung by Leonard.

Lillyhammer
(TV series)

Norway 2012



Darkness
The 2nd episode of this drama/comedy (starring Steven Van Zandt) ends with "Darkness"

Revenge
(TV series)

USA 2012



If it be your will
Mid way through the episode "Doubt" of this ABC night soap starring Emily Van Camp and Madeline Stowe,Leonard is on the soundtrack singing “If it Be Your Will."

Hecho en Mexico

Mexico 2012 2012



In my secret life/En mi vida secreta

Adanowsky
A documentary on some of contemporary Mexico's most iconic artists and performers.

Fairly Legal
(TV series)

USA 2012



Hallelujah
Rufus Wainwright
The episode "Hide and Seek", first broadcast in March, opens with Hallelujah playing softly as the lead character enters an elevator. She begins to join in on the lyrics, and then the other passengers all join in..

Miss Violence

Greece 2013



Dance me to the end of love
Drama, directed by Alexandros Avranas. On her birthday, 11-year-old Angeliki jumps off the balcony to her death with a smile on her face while Leonard Cohen's death-camp waltz ‘Dance Me to the End of Love’ plays on the stereo.

The congress

USA 2013



If it be your will
Robin Wright


Scifi Animation, based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, directed by Ari Folman


Tatort
(TV series)

Germany 2013



Avalanche


Leonard's song is used in the episode Mord auf Langeoog.


Coronation Street
(TV series)

UK 2013



Night Comes On


In the 8270th episode of this ITV soap opera character Peter Barlow was having second thoughts about his wedding tomorrow and having a heart to heart with his new love interest. Playing in the background was "Night comes on".


Suzanne

France 2013



Suzanne
(Nina Simone)


Katell Quillévéré's story of a family and a love affair told through the journey of a young woman called Suzanne


The Congress

Israel 2013



If it be your will
(Robin Wright)


A metaphysical sci-fi satire, based on a novel by Stanislav Lem (partly animated).


El Braco (The Boat)
(TV series)

Spain 2013



Hallelujah
(Ivan Sanguesa)


It starts as a sci-fi series (a large sailboat is the only part of humanity surviving after a failed experiment causes Earth to be entirely covered by water), but it focuses mostly on the very human relationships between the survivors. Hallelujah is used during the culminating point of the last episode, where the love between two main characters is both celebrated and possibly lost forever - and makes that moment beautifully sad and hopeful in the same time.


100 % Cachemire
(The Ultimate Accessory)

France 2013



Dance Me To The End Of Love




Comedy, directed by Valérie Lemercier. A 7 year old boy is adopted by a trendy Parisian couple as the latest added accessory to their life.


Wild

USA 2014



Suzanne



A chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent catastrophe.


Rosewater

USA 2014



Dance Me To The End Of Love



The lead character, a journalist imprisoned in Iran, sings Leonard Cohen songs to himself while in jail..


Black Sails

USA 2014- (TV Series)



Avalanche
Nick Cave


Captain Flint and his pirates, twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic "Treasure Island". The new version of “Avalanche” will appear in trailers for Black Sails and at the end of 2nd season’s ninth episode.


Transparent

USA 2014- (TV Series)



Hey, that's no way to say goodbye



Tv series made by Amazon; the plot has father of a LA family coming out as woman locked in for years. In episode nine of the first season, at the end, “Hey that’s no way to say goodbye” plays over the closing credits.


The Trip To Italy

(TV Series)

UK 2014



Go No More A-Roving’



Episode 3, La Suvera, Pievescola: A couple of snippets of ‘Go No More A-Roving’ are playing as Steve Coogan sleeps in his hotel room.


Félix and Meira

Canada 2015



Famous blue raincoat



Winner of the Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto Film Festival, directed by Maxime Giroux. An unusual romance blossoms between two lost souls who inhabit the same neighborhood but vastly different worlds.


True Detective
(TV series)

USA 2015



Nevermind



Every episode of season 2 begins with Leonard's "Nevermind". In this season the disappearance of a city manager disrupts a lucrative land scheme and ignites an investigation involving three police officers and a career criminal who is moving into legitimate business.


L´attesa
(The Waiting)

Italy 2015



Waiting for the Miracle



Piero Messina's film uses Cohen's song as its main theme. Drama; a mother unexpectedly meets her son's fiancée at a villa in Sicily and gets to know her as she waits for her son to arrive.


The Walk

USA 2015



Suzanne
Charlotte Le Bon


When we meet the female lead (Charlotte Le Bon) of Robert Zemeckis' very entertaining movie "The Walk" (which takes place in the early 1970s) she is performing a very lovely cover version of "Suzanne" in the streets of Paris while playing guitar to it.


The Beautiful Lie
(TV Series)

Australia 2015



Bird on a wire
Marlin Williams


Cohen's song is featured in one of the episodes of a new drama series on ABC TV.


Mia Madre

Italy 2015



Famous Blue Raincoat



A drama directed and written by Nanni Moretti. Margherita, a director in the middle of an existential crisis, has to deal with the inevitable and still unacceptable loss of her mother. Within the first quarter hour, as the main character leaves her boyfriend, we hear Cohen on the soundtrack.


Tomorrow

France 2015



Everybody knows
Rufus Wainwright


This documentary film focuses on the people suggesting solutions and their actions to the climate change.


The Program

UK 2015



Everybody Knows



Sports drama: An Irish sports journalist starts hunting for evidence that will expose Lance Armstrong.


iZombie
(TV Series)

USA 2016



A Thousand Kisses Deep



Towards the end of episode 11 of the 2nd season, Fifty Shades of Grey Matter, when "emotional" turns "tragic", Leonard comes on with his song.


Syke
(TV Series)

Finland 2016



Hallelujah
Katja Lappi


Episode 1 of the 3rd season of this Finnish hospital series uses Hallelujah while a lot is happening in the emergency room.


Peaky Blinders
(TV Series)

UK 2016



You Want It Darker



Set in the 1920s, Peaky Blinders tells the story of the real life gang that operated in Birmingham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Leonard's new song is used in the 5th episode of the third season.


The Americans
(TV Series)

USA 2016



Who By Fire



There was a quite lengthy use of Who By Fire in the season finale (episode 13, season 4) of this spy story


The Infiltrator

USA 2016



Everybody Knows



A U.S. Customs official uncovers a money laundering scheme involving Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar [IMBD]


Containment
(TV series)

USA 2016



Anthem



The series follows an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, leaving the large city quarantined and those stuck on the inside fighting for their lives [IMDB]. Anthem can be heard towards the end of the episode "There is a crack in everything"


The Fundamentals of Caring

USA 2016



I'm Your Man



A man suffering an incredible amount of loss enrolls in a class about care-giving that changes his perspective on life [IMDB]. Written and directed by Rob Burnett.


Pete's Dragon

USA 2016



So Long Marianne



An american family film directed by David Lowery. The film is a remake of the 1977 musical film of the same name. The adventures of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon [IMBD]


War Dogs

USA 2016



Everybody Knows



An American biographical black comedy war film, based on the true story of two young men who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan [IMBD]. Directed by Todd Phillips.


Hunt for Wilderpeople

New Zealand 2016



The Partisan



A national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush [IMDB]. Directed by Taika Waititi.


Stranger in Paradise

The Netherlands 2016



The Stranger Song



In this documentary directed by Guido Hendrixk newly arrived refugees learn a lesson about multifarious Europe.


The Affair
(TV Series)

USA 2017



Hey, that's no way to say goodbye
(male singer)


The dramatic episode 7 of the third season ends with a part of Cohen's song


Mr. Robot
(TV Series)

USA 2017



Democracy



Trailer/teaser of the third season uses Cohen's spoken word version of the song.


Tin Star
(TV Series)

USA 2017



You Want It Darker



"Tin Star" is a British drama series set in the Canadian Rockies. In Episode 4 - "Jack": After some very traumatic events, Tim Roth's character, the alcoholic police chief Jim Worth, has gone off the railsand is getting blind drunk in his local bar. The scene is accompanied by Leonard's "You Want It Darker".


Chance
(TV Series)

Australia 2017



Be For Real



Season 1 episode 7, "Unlocking Your Hidden Powers", features the song Be For Real with Leonard singing it. LC recorded this cover of Frederick Knight's song for The Future album.


The Son
(TV Series)

USA 2017



It Seemed The Better Way



Cohen's song plays in the season 1 finale scene in this story of America's birth as a superpower through the bloody rise and fall of one Texas oil empire.


Justice League

USA 2017



Everybody Knows
Sigrid


Right at the beginning of "Justice League", action/fantasy film, during the opening credits, there's a nice cover version of "Everybody Knows" from the Norwegian singer Sigrid.


Assasin's Creed
(Computer Game)

USA 2017



You Want It Darker



Assassin’s Creed Origins Cinematic Story Trailer features Cohen's You Want It Darker. This action/adventure history game was released in October 2017


Billions
(TV series)

USA 2018



You Want It Darker



Cohen's songs appears in the closing scenes of season 3, episode 3 (A Generation Too Late) of Showtime TV series Billions


American Animals

USA 2018



Who by Fire



Four young men plan a shameless robbery. Directed by Bart Layton.


I'm Dying Up Here
(TV series)

USA 2018



Famous Blue Raincoat



American comedy-drama television series based in the Los Angeles stand-up scene of the early 1970s. Season 2, Episode 6 ("Between us") fades at the end to Cohen's song.


Black Earth Rising
(TV series)

UK 2018



You Want It Darker




Featuring the lyrics “If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game. If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame. If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame. You want it darker. We kill the flame”, the theme music to this BBC thriller is "You Want It Darker".


Homecoming
(TV series)

USA 2018



Coming Back to You




In Season 1, Episode 9 of the series, "Homecoming", the first 4 lines of the last verse of Coming Back To You ("Even in your arms..."), are played in the background of a particular scene, somewhere around the middle of the episode.


Farewell

Australia 2019



Come Healing




A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies (IMDB). Directed by Lulu Wang. A moving rendition of Come Healing towards the end.


It Must Be Heaven

France 2019



Darkness




Filmmaker Elia Suleiman travels to different cities and finds unexpected parallels to his homeland of Palestine. (IMDB).


L'autre

France 2020



I'm Your Man




Charlotte Dauphin's intimate portrait of a woman's mental confrontation and drifting between dream and reality after experiencing loss(IMDB). Cohen's song is at the beginning of the film.


Contributed by Dick Straub, Kelley Lynch, Adrian Martin, Michael Mayer, Ben Benaziza,
Stephane Schaeffer, Karel Pazourek, Paul Dumais, Mike Miyake, Marie Mazur,
Germain Bonneau/Helen Doyle, Carole McCallum, Martin Greaves, Richard Thomas,
Jose Tomas Dominguez, Vlad Arghir, Ron Mura, Dino Martino, Jerry Cavallerano,
Ozzet Yasar, Juang Siahaan, Janet Jones, Demetris Tsimperis, Andrea Dolfino,
Elsie Gundersen, Juraj Mucko, Antonio Vela Lopez, Jim Donoghue, Bill van Dyk,
Bhasi Panikker, Tom Sakic, Stephanie Shinn, Karen Weitzner, Elizabeth Hoffman,
Andrew Darbyshire, Joe Deschenes, Eve-Line Grumeau, Marie Schindler, Andrew Tobin,
Anna Miglio, Tatiana Morozova, Barbara Mayer, Celine Robitaille, Marcin S. Sadurski,
Elliot Hildner, Anne Riise, Lizzie Madder, Kjell Ove Hattrem, Sylvain Belisle,
Rauli Arjatsalo, Antonio Vela Lopez, Tri-me Sheldron, Phillip Smith, Anne Mitchell,
Rudi Schmid, Rodrigo Manh?es, Guadalupe Baquero, Vern Silver, Alex, Bobbie Chalou,
Pawel Gorny, Esther Cohen, Laurie Eckhout, Henning Franz, Chris Month, Kayley Kimball,
Heiko Reddingius, Steve Wilcox, Martti Mueller, Christine Collender, Allyn Hardyck,
Dominique Boile, Ana Cristina Sauwen, Karen Weitzner, Louise Gagnon, Jörn Lansby
Francesca Piviotti Inghilleri, Rune Kühl, Arlene Dick, Sophia Koutselini,
Roman Gavrilin, Pep Burgoa, Regina Bartsch, Scott MacMillan, Caripdx, Bew Kussrow
Dany Hilven, Laura Nicolaescu, Geddes, PeGu, Yentek, Kush, ScottM, Laura Weitzner,
Eve Massano, Tryfan, Clementine, Scott MacMillan, Geddes, Evelyne Bénomard, Maire Vainio
Geoffrey Wren, Beata Wołoszyn, Maria Bauer, Evelyne Bénomard

Latest Update: January 23, 2020


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