Cineflix Rights Scores New Sales for So Long, Marianne

Cineflix Rights has scored new sales for the eight-episode drama So Long, Marianne in Australia and Spain.

The series tells the love story of Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen and Norwegian woman Marianne Ihlen, who inspired the song “So Long, Marianne.” It will air on SBS in Australia and on Telefónica’s Movistar Plus+ in Spain this fall.

Cohen and Ihlen’s story crosses the world, and the series travels for Norway to Greece, New York and Montreal. The majority was filmed on the Greek island of Hydra, where Cohen and Ihlen lived during the 1960s. There, they joined Australian novelist Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston, the matriarch and patriarch of a bohemian group of writers, artists, poets and outcasts who were exploring a new world of free love, drugs and artistic freedom but also experiencing the rivalries and jealousy that accompanied their intense lives.

Alex Wolff (A Quiet Place: Day One, Oppenheimer, Hereditary) stars as Cohen, and Thea Sofie Loch Næss (The Last Kingdom, Delete Me, A Storm for Christmas) plays Ihlen. The cast also features Anna Torv (The Newsreader, The Last of Us, Mindhunter), Noah Taylor (Preacher, Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones) and Peter Stormare (American Gods, Fargo).

So Long, Marianne is co-produced by Redpoint Productions, Tanweer Productions and C3 Media, with the support of the Norwegian Film Institute, Creative Europe MEDIA, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and Rogers Cable Network Fund. It is developed by Ingeborg Klyve (Exit), Øystein Karlsen (Exit, Dag, Lilyhammer, Whitstable Pearl) and Tony Wood (Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Marcella, The Burning Girls) and written for the screen by Øystein Karlsen and Jo Nesbø (Harry Hole, Kingdom, Headhunters). It is directed by Øystein Karlsen and Bronwen Hughes (Shantaram, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul).

“So Long, Marianne is one of the most iconic love stories of the last century, set in one of the most beautiful locations in the world, so it’s no surprise it’s been a hit with buyers all over the world,” said James Durie, head of scripted at Cineflix Rights. “We are delighted to be closing these latest deals with SBS and Movistar and look forward to the reactions of viewers in Spain and Australia to this enthralling and life affirming drama.”