Death of a Ladies Man

Samuel O'Shea (Gabriel Byrne) has truly seen better days. First, the hard-drinking college professor catches his wife cheating on him, is subsequently haunted by disturbing hallucinations, and then experiences a devastating medical diagnosis. Knowing that his time in this world is coming to an end sooner than he would like, he travels back to his old home in Ireland, looking back on his troubled life and having to face many a ghost of his past....

With "Death of a Ladies Man" director Matt Bissonnette has staged not only an ode to life, but also a love letter to the music of Leonard Cohen. Cohen's songs not only serve as background to the action, but play a central role in the story. Before his death in 2016, the Canadian singer-songwriter had given his blessing to the project and the use of his pieces. And you can tell from the production how much Bissonnette respects Leonard Cohen and loves his music. The way he weaves his story with Cohen's lyrics and melodies is simply brilliant and does absolute justice to the artist's oeuvre.

The story of "Death of a Ladies Man" sounds like pretty damn tough stuff on the surface. It's the stuff that very melancholy dramas are often made of. But even though there are some rather sad moments in the film, the director does an excellent job of avoiding dragging his audience down too much. Through a lot of quirky humor and whimsical dream or hallucination sequences, the film takes on a pleasant lightness without becoming superficial in any way in terms of content. Bissonnette has staged an ode to love and life that simply makes you happy. No question: the topic of death has not been treated so beautifully and originally in cinema for a long time.

Masterfully played by Gabriel Byrne, the film looks back in a wonderfully idiosyncratic way on a life full of (supposed) bad decisions and excesses, but thereby also reveals the many little things that bring happiness and love and ultimately make a life worth living. An unusual and beautiful film that can be warmly recommended to all who like humorous and emotional arthouse food beyond the mainstream. Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp