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Love and Death

Play trailer Poster for Love and Death PG 1975 1h 25m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 26 Reviews 90% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
In Woody Allen's comic take on 19th-century Russian philosophical novels and the Soviet-era epic films made from them, Boris (Woody Allen) is a simple Russian villager who pines from afar for his beautiful cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton). Forced against his will into joining the Russian army during the Napoleonic Wars, the cowardly Boris accidentally becomes a military hero. But when his beloved Sonja comes to him with a dangerous patriotic scheme, Boris debates his desires and beliefs.
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Love and Death

Love and Death

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Critics Consensus

Woody Allen plunks his neurotic persona into a Tolstoy pastiche and yields one of his funniest films, brimming with slapstick ingenuity and a literary inquiry into subjects as momentous as Love and Death.

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Critics Reviews

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Penelope Gilliatt The New Yorker Mar 5, 2024
Love and Death strikes me as majestically funny: the most shapely piece of cinema that Woody Allen has yet made, and one of comedy's hardiest ripostes to extinction. Go to Full Review Paul D. Zimmerman Newsweek Jan 19, 2024
It sparkles with an unremitting succession of terrific moments, if not the soaring, sustained stretches of Sleeper. Go to Full Review Joy Gould Boyum Wall Street Journal Aug 10, 2022
It’s good-natured laughter, too, deriving in large part from simply sharing in Allen’s sheer pleasure in travesty, in being slightly disrespectful to what we have learned to revere. Go to Full Review Grant Watson Fiction Machine Oct 22, 2025
7/10
It is a fun Allen film all told, giving his original comic sensibilities one of their final hurrahs, while pointing to a more interesting and sophisticated writer/director in the future. Go to Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Feb 3, 2024
... he last of [Allen's] genre parodies with scripts that string gags together rather than tell stories, and the first to really engage his love of philosophy, literature, and the existential drama of Bergman movies. Go to Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Feb 13, 2023
3.5/4
The picture is packed front to back with cheery bon mots --- to say nothing of rollicking slapstick sequences, spoofy film homages, and other modes of merriment guaranteed to keep viewers in perpetual guffaw. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Alejandro E @Alex970 Jun 19, 2026 From Woody Allen’s glory days. His latest targets: Russian literature, Soviet cinema and Prokofiev, recounting how a coward became a hero during the Napoleonic invasions. The actor-director’s distinctive humour is still very accessible, even for newcomers. See more Ben W @Username618 Jun 17, 2026 Loved it ! and. Died it. No, loved it. See more thiago S @Thiagostone May 25, 2026 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more ed M @RT80499164 Apr 20, 2026 A lot of great lines. Not Woody Allen's best, but a funny movie. See more Levi J @Lev77 Mar 29, 2026 Underrated, hilarious, early Woody Allen movie! And yes, the Prokofiev and Diane Keaton add a little special something. :) See more Stephen C @bob25009 Oct 15, 2025 Funny in 1 hour and 25 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Read all reviews
Love and Death

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Cast & Crew

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Woody Allen

Director

Woody Allen

Boris

Diane Keaton

Sonja

Georges Adet

Old Nehamkin

Frank Adu

Drill Sergeant

Edmund Ardisson

Priest

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Love and Death

Love and Death (1975) Love and Death (1975) Love and Death (1975) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In Woody Allen's comic take on 19th-century Russian philosophical novels and the Soviet-era epic films made from them, Boris (Woody Allen) is a simple Russian villager who pines from afar for his beautiful cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton). Forced against his will into joining the Russian army during the Napoleonic Wars, the cowardly Boris accidentally becomes a military hero. But when his beloved Sonja comes to him with a dangerous patriotic scheme, Boris debates his desires and beliefs.
Director
Woody Allen
Producer
Charles H. Joffe
Screenwriter
Woody Allen
Production Co
Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions
Rating
PG
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 10, 1975, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 16, 2008
Runtime
1h 25m
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