Death of a Ladies' Man (film)

Death of a Ladies' Man
Film poster
Directed byMatt Bissonnette
Written byMatt Bissonnette
Produced byCorey Marr
Don Carmody
Martina Niland
Marie-Claude Poulin
Alexander Kushaev
StarringGabriel Byrne
Jessica Paré
Brian Gleeson
CinematographyJonathon Cliff
Edited byMatt Lyon
Music byStephen Rennicks
Production
companies
Corey Marr Productions
Don Carmody Productions
MCP Productions
Port Pictures
Monte Rosso Films
Distributed byMongrel Media (Canada)
Transmission Films (Australia)
MFA+ (Germany)
Release date
  • September 24, 2020 (2020-09-24) (CIFF)
Running time
100 minutes
CountriesCanada
Ireland
LanguagesEnglish, French

Death of a Ladies' Man is a 2020 Canadian-Irish coproduced comedy-drama film, directed by Matt Bissonnette.[1] The film stars Gabriel Byrne as Samuel O'Shea, a college literature professor in Montreal who must confront his mortality and make peace with his family after a series of hallucinations lead to his diagnosis with an inoperable brain tumour.[2]

The film's cast also includes Jessica Paré, Brian Gleeson, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Karelle Tremblay, Suzanne Clément, Joel Bissonnette, Pascale Bussières, Alexandre Nachi and Tyrone Benskin.

The film's themes are reflected through the use of seven Leonard Cohen songs in its musical soundtrack: "Bird on the Wire", "Memories", "Hallelujah", "Why Don't You Try", "Heart with No Companion", "The Lost Canadian (Un Canadien errant)" and "Did I Ever Love You".[3] The use of Cohen's literary or musical work is a recurring motif in Bissonnette's work, also seen in his 2002 filmmaking debut Looking for Leonard and his 2009 film Passenger Side.[4]

The film premiered on September 24, 2020 at the Calgary International Film Festival,[5] and went into commercial release in Canada in theatres and on video on demand platforms on March 12, 2021.[1]