Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

This 1975 movie, both written and directed by Woody Allen, has got to be one of his very best! Starring Allen and Diane Keaton as Boris and Sonja, two Napoleonic era figures who participate in constant philosophical debates with each other! Boris is in love with his twice-removed cousin Sonja, but she is in deeply in love with a herring merchant! When Sonja becomes widowed, she very reluctantly agrees to wed the smitten Boris, only because she believes he is going to be killed in a duel the following day. Much to her chagrin he survives, and they then begin discussing starting a family. But when that plan is interrupted by Napoleon who is looking to invade the Russian Empire, they concoct a scheme to assassinate him!Allen considered this to be one of his funniest movies up until this point (1975). Quite frankly, I think it's one of his funniest movies of all time!

"Love and Death (1975)" is arguably one of, if not, the funniest Woody Allen film to ever be created. Allen plays Boris, the politically ambivalent, pacifist and neurotic soldier whom, against his will, must fight for the Russian Army. He's in love with Sonja (Keaton), his "cousin twice removed", whose never expressed any kind of mutual feelings towards him. But with their intricate, existential conversations, you'd think they're a match made in intellectual heaven.This film offers us snippets of those who have inspired Allen's career. Ingmar Bergman the acclaimed Swedish director, has always been a huge influence of Allen's work, with both men showing this kind of fascination with death. The scenes with the Grim Reaper (dressed in white, not black) and Boris are a wonderful homage that calls to mind Bergman's "Det sjunde inseglet (1957)", though done in a satirical manner which is more Allen- esque. He also pays tribute to Charles Chaplin with the likes of a hilarious slapstick gag.Some of the humour is straightforward while other jokes require that extra knowledge of classic literature and/or European cinema. But the humor is relentless and done with such care - every scene with Allen and Keaton together is absolute gold. And with the occasional 4th wall breaks, in classic Woody style, we are given that perfect dose of introspection that will make you question much of life's ambiguity once all the laughs have faded away. A near-perfect film by Allen.

This movie is considered to be a spoof of Russian Novels . It is set in czarist Russia, 1812 , a neurotic Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen) wishes to marry his distant cousin (Diane Keaton) . Although both of whom take two divergent ways in their lives, those paths cross once again . When Napoleon threatens to invade the Russian Empire, the coward soldier is forced to enlist to save his natal nation . Later on , Boris and his lover cousin formulate a scheme to assassinate Napoleon (James Tolkan) . At the end he is detained and the condemned man reviews his past life .Amusing picture fable is plenty of the filmmaker's signature angst-ridden philosophical comedy . Hilarity slips into vulgarity rather too often in this usually in-and-out early Woody Allen comedy which embroils the little man in Russia invaded by Napoleon . Like a Russian soldier , the gags and funny sketches fire off in all directions . There is a lot of spoofs and even Bergman's ¨The seventh seal¨ and ¨Persona¨ and jokes for moviegoers . As the movie featured the Death character of The Grim Reaper , Allen is known to be inspired and influenced by Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman who had featured the Grim Reaper in his film The seventh seal (1957) ; in the Bergman film the Grim Reaper wears black robes whereas in this film he wears a white gown . The picture is ironical about major Russian novels particularly the works of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky . In fact , the movie title is a play on words of such Russian novel titles as Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" . Nice acting by Woody Allen at his best , as a condemned man who reviews the follies of his life . His comic style paid homage to a number of classic comedians which included Bob Hope , Charles Chaplin and The Marx Brothers . Intermittently hilarious , pre-Annie Hall Allen fare , it is is one of eight cinema movie collaborations of Woody Allen and actress Diane Keaton, Allen co-starring in six of them and directing seven of them . These are the followings : Play It Again Sam , Sleeper , Interiors , Manhattan , Radio Days , and Manhattan Murder Mystery . It is fun enough to make wish there were more of it and you will have to keep your eyes peeled to spot notorious secondaries as Jessica Harper , Harold Gould , Olga Georges Picot , Féodor Atkine , Gérard Buhr , Howard Vernon and James Tolkan as Napoleón and his double and about ¨fifty-four supporting players" .Witty as well as classical musical score contributes much . At the beginning the soundtrack was taken from Igor Stravinsky music , but , subsequently , Woody Allen took Sergei Prokofiev's lighthearted score that worked far better . The movie's big battle sequence features Sergei Prokofiev's cantata music from Sergei M. Eisenstein's epic Alexánder Nevsky (1938). Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet , being shot on location in Hungary and Paris , France . Lavish and stunningly produced by Charles H. Joffe , Allen's ordinary producer . This enjoyable motion picture was vigorously directed by Woody Allen , being his sixth film as director and here to ridicule Russian novels such as "The Idiot", "The Gambler", "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", "Crime and Punishment", and "The Brothers Karamazov". Woody Allen has said that this movie was "my funniest picture to that time".

Love and Death marks a very distinct transitional phase for Woody Allen, being the very last of his oddball comedies and the most sophisticated of them. It combines, essentially for the last time for Allen, incredibly silly puns and one liners that would fit in a Mel Brooks movie ("I think we should divide his letters... do you want the vowels or the consonants?") with clever satire and parody on Bergman and Dostoevsky. It's probably my ignorance in Russian classic literature that prevented me from enjoying it more, but I loved the loving Bergman spoofs and young Woody's quirky, neurotic humor. I can't name it as one of my favorite Allen films but it certainly holds its own as a fresh, hilarious piece.