“Hallelujah”: Leonard Cohen’s words on Arte—a song that tells the story of a life

Hallelujah, Words of Leonard Cohen airs on Arte on November 6, 2026, at 10:45 p.m., under the title “Hallelujah”: Leonard Cohen. Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine trace the story of the song and its author.

A song that has passed through the lives of several performers provides the through line for Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. The documentary by Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine arrives on Arte, which is presenting it under the title “Hallelujah”: Leonard Cohen. Behind the song, the filmmakers trace the personal and artistic journey of the Canadian singer, who died in 2016.

The song did not immediately find an audience: Columbia had refused to release the album Various Positions in the United States. Covers by John Cale and then Jeff Buckley helped set it on a new course. The film interweaves this story with Cohen’s archives, notebooks and testimony from those close to him.

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Our review of Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song:

“Hallelujah” is Leonard Cohen’s best-known song. But it is also, above all, one of the most covered songs in the world. And it is this global hit that directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine chose as the narrative thread for their wonderful documentary “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.” The Canadian artist spent nearly eight years composing the song. A perfectionist and a true workaholic, probably never entirely satisfied, the poet wrote more than 150 different verses before completing this magnificent song. But the song did not enjoy the success he had hoped for when the album was released. Why? Columbia Records refused to release the album in the United States. It would take the sumptuous cover by John Cale, and above all the one by Jeff Buckley, to give “Hallelujah” a second life.

Following this thread, we learn more about the personal and artistic life of this towering artist. Deeply influenced by spirituality (he spent six years in a monastery not far from Los Angeles), Leonard Cohen never gave up, even going back on tour in 2012 and 2013 at the age of 78, after being swindled by his agent.

The artist’s life is skillfully told through high-quality archival footage and interviews with people close to him (singer Sharon Robinson, producer of “Various Positions” John Lissauer, and Larry “Ratso” Sloman, a longtime Rolling Stone journalist and one of Leonard Cohen’s closest confidants...). Above all, it is a pleasure to hear Leonard Cohen’s deep, measured voice again, thanks to “Ratso”’s cassette recordings.

Several artists, including Rufus Wainwright, Amanda Palmer, Regina Spektor and Brandi Carlile, loudly proclaim their love for the Montréal-born artist and poet, and for the song they each felt compelled to cover. The documentary even goes so far as to include—excessively—version after version from TV talent shows (American Idol, The Voice...). This glut of covers echoing one another does tend to leave us a little lost. But perhaps the point is to show us that the one and only version is the one by Leonard Cohen, which he performed live right up until his final concert in 2013?

A documentary to watch and rewatch to discover more about the fascinating life of one of our era’s great artists and understand the creation and evolution of a global hit. However, if you don’t like “Hallelujah,” give it a miss, because you’re likely to hear it quite a few times during the film’s nearly two-hour running time!