“For now I need your hidden love
I´m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave”

SO LONG, MARIANNE - LEONARD COHEN

In a world that's a little colder; a little harder, doesn't it feel more important than ever to tell a love story? A story where the love is not as polished as on Instagram, and like in real life, nothing is as predictable as portrayed in a movie rom-com.

So Long, Marianne is real; human and intimate, lung-busting, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking love story. Though it's a story looking back at extraordinary lives, it's more than that; much more. It’s a story of youth, searching and finding meaning in life; a story of expression, the sacrifices life forces you to make, and purity of love and of voice. The story of two very specific normal people. 

Marianne Ihlen is the living embodiment of the issues around female equality; growing up in a time when women were taught to be submissive, Marianne never towed that line. She refused to be a "good girl", refused to be what society and her parents demanded she be. It’s no accident Leonard Cohen and Axel Jensen, two great twentieth century writers, were drawn to her and each found their voice when with Marianne.

Leonard Cohen is a different matter. His life is a wake-up call for the ever-growing number of people who believe a normal job is beneath their dignity; these people completely unenlightened as to what it costs to make a career. Cohen worked hard from the age of 15 until he broke through at 32. Along the way, he almost succumbed several times: Leonard’s is the story of a man who had it all: looks, charm, talent, but who felt inadequate almost all his life. 

So long Marianne is a love story that takes us from the idyllic Hydra in Greece to winter in Oslo and Montreal. A love story that produced one of the greatest cultural icons of our age: a beautiful, poetic, searing tribute to life.

The Kingdom is the perfect blend of intense thriller and Shakespearean drama; Jo Nesbø’s version of Cain and Abel.
It will challenge the viewer’s own perspectives on life choices, shame, inheritance, love, and destiny, in a way that forces you to realize that most people’s lives are different from what you might imagine. And as with all of life’s most difficult choices, there is no single right answer.

 The Kingdom is fundamentally about choices. What is right, what is wrong, what can you live with and how can you justify those choices to yourself. As the brothers’ father says at the beginning of the story:

“The agony of choice, do you know what that is? When making the choice is what strangles you, not the choice itself. When you know that no matter what you choose, you’re going to lie awake at night torturing yourself over whether you made the right choice.”