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Love and Death (1975) More at IMDbPro »

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78 comments in total

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28 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
Underrated Woody Gem, 5 May 2004

Author: dweis007 from new york

As a huge Woody Allen fan, I was delighted and surprised by this film. I have scarcely heard anyone mention it, but for my money it is the single most comically dense of all of Woody's films. There are so many truly impressive/hilarious/memorable one-liners that I'm amazed people don't quote this movie left and right. The setting, costumes, accents all add to the hilarity of the film--truly reminiscent of a Marx Brothers romp. Really outstanding among his pre-Annie Hall films. Only rivaled by Bananas in my opinion for simple laugh value.

Unlike any other of his films, this deals with his "deep" questions of death/metaphysics in an unflaggingly light and comical fashion. For instance:

Sonja: But judgment of any system or a priori relation of phenomena exists in any rational or metaphysical or at least epistemological contradiction to an abstracted empirical concept such as being or to be or to occur in the thing itself or of the thing itself.

Boris: Yeah, I've said that many times.

Not Woody's "best" film (see Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors), but perhaps his most laugh-filled. Satisfying throughout. I give it a 9/10.

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26 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Possibly Allen's comic masterpiece, 14 February 2004

Author: Cameron (inthreefour@aol.com) from Northern California

Although the critics loved Annie Hall and some of Allen's other films more than this one, I think this is his best combination of comedy and philosophy. I would strongly recommend this to any fan of Russian history, comedy, philosophy, or Woody Allen.

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16 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Woody at his historical, or should that be, hysterical best!, 21 August 2000
Author: Sonatine97 (sonatine97@hotmail.com) from Birmingham, England

For me Love & Death and Sleeper were Allen's zenith for slapstick, one-liner comic-gag comedy. After the relatively immature but amusing Bananas & Everything You always Wanted To Know About Sex, Allen goes up a notch in the intellectual comedy stakes to produce this fine send-up of Russian culture & historical caricature.

Even though some of the one-liner jokes don't always come off it doesn't matter because you never really get chance to think too much about how droll it is because Allen has another half dozen gags waiting in the wings.

But I've often found that Allen works best when he has a foil for his anarchic humour: and thank the Lord he managed to find the wonderful talent of Ms Keaton. She may not be his intellectual equal but she can run him to ground in nearly everything else. She has a kind of naive charm in this movie, always daydreaming, never really listening to Allen's mutterings & jabberings. And with this naivity brings warmth, humility and a general sense of well being.

At the same time Allen can release all his pentup emotions, fears, neo-neurosis to Keaton knowing full well that she wouldn't have a single notion as to what he was on about.

And thats what makes this partnership so durable whether it be here in Love & Death, or Sleeper, Annie Hall or Manhattan Murder Mystery. The scripts may vary but they're held together by the spontaneity of the two stars.

It should be said also that Love & Death breaks new ground for Allen, because even though he still relies on the childish humour of his earlier films, it is also quite clear that he is more forthcoming with his angst against a problematic world. His philosophic nuances dominate a lot of the film, which he will put to more practical use in his latter films like Annie Hall & Manhattan. But here he gets the mix between jokes & existentualism just right.

Love & Death is quite literally a laugh a minute. Whatever people may say about his recent personal problems it cannot be denied that this guy is a pure talent and should be cherished for what he is - a man that makes the world a happier place, if only for a few hours!

****/*****

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21 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Woody Allen's most entertaining and amusing comedies, 1 August 2001

Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

Woody Allen films fall into different categories-his early films verge on slapstick while still being bitingly satirical (Sleeper, Bananas, Play It Again, Sam, among others) while his later works generally fall into one of two categories: contemporary social satire or nostalgic period pieces, generally set in the 1930s or 1940s. Love and Death is probably the most cerebral of the slapstick films and what I suspect a collaboration between Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman and the Marx Brothers would have looked like had one ever taken place. Sight gags abound along with the philosophical discussions Woody Allen films have as a matter of course. It's a hilarious film that spoofs Bergman, the military, patriotism and, of course, love and death. Most highly recommended.

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15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
A thinking comedy, 11 May 2001

Author: Me from Connecticut

One of the funniest movies of all time. The War & Peace and Chekov slant gives it a great feel. Allen and Keaton are at their best, and funnier than Grace & Burns, Hepburn & Tracey, etc..

One of the better lines, "To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love, but then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love, to be happy then is to suffer but suffering makes one unhappy, therefore to be unhappy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down."

This classic comedy is very rarely known, and worth watching it over and over.

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14 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Woody Allen's best, and I own them all, 4 July 2003
Author: mrdemilleimreadyformycloseup from New England

People go on and on about "Annie Hall," which I must say I love, but "Love and Death" remains, for me, the best movie Woody Allen movie ever made. Why?

First, I love Dostoyevsky, and his twisted take on Dostoyevsky is so hilarious, but also so informed, that it lands me on my ass. Second, his dialogue is so

existentialist and yet so ridiculous ("Yes, but objectivity is subjective." "Not in any rational scheme of perception.") that it makes Ingmar Bergman look like a fool, which he isn't, but it's so much fun to deconstruct the big guy. Third, I love the scene when the little kid questions death about the afterlife. ("Are there girls?") I love the one-liners, especially when, surveying the battlefield with all the bodies lying around, Woody's companion says "He was our village idiot." and Woody

replies "So what did you do? Place?" Mainly I love it because it is intellectual but also as silly as hell. In the movie pantheon, Woody is up there in the godhead, along with Bergman and Dreyer. Alongside them, the world needs Woody, to

make it laugh about things that they make people think seriously about.

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16 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Woody's (or anybody's) funniest., 20 May 1999

Author: Hermit C-2 from Marietta, GA, USA

Which movie of Woody's was it in which he talked to aliens who expressed a liking for his "early, funny" movies? In any case this is perhaps his funniest. His lampooning of the great Russian dramas are hilarious to those who have even a passing familiarity with them, and even if you don't, the jokes come so fast and furious that it literally is a laugh a minute--at least! Woody and Diane Keaton were a great comedy team. They were really at the top of their game when they made this one. I'll resist the urge to repeat laugh lines here and just recommend that fans of good comedy see it.

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Absolutely Amazing!, 1 November 2005

Author: Sweet_Lady_Lynnie from United States

Honestly, It took me 24 years to truly appreciate the work of Woody Allen. But those were 24 years well spent and by that I mean... -it could be that you have to grow up and be a student of life and really see what the world is about. or -it could just be that you need to be cynical ...in order to achieve the mindset to understand the genius of it all, there's something about Woody Allen that is just incredibly fantastic. I must say that this film is incredibly well thought, acted, and directed....Diane Keaton is the best shes ever been in my opinion and Woody...man you gotta love him!

Just watch it! You'll be in tears-too funny!

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
The last of Woody's uneven (but still hilarious) comedies, 11 October 2001

Author: craigjclark from Haddonfield, NJ

"Love and Death" is one of my favourite Woody Allen films, right up there with "Manhattan," "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Deconstructing Harry." Sure, the jokes are scattershot and don't always work, but when they do the film is a gut-buster. ("A tremendous amount of wheat!") Parodying everything from Russian literature to foreign films (especially those of his beloved Ingmar Bergman), it's also one of Allen's most overtly philosophical films with characters breaking into syllogisms and formal arguments at the most unlikely moments. Students of philosophy should get a kick out of it.

That said, it is accessible to just about anybody. Almost nobody does fish-out-of-water comedy as well as Woody Allen (see also "Bananas" and "Sleeper"), and Diane Keaton shines as usual as the promiscuous object of his desire. And look for Jessica Harper in a small role as the cousin who rattles off a convoluted list of romantic entanglements worthy of Chekhov.

This was the last step of Allen's formative period. After this, his films would get a lot more focused.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
A great woody flick, one of his better ones, 27 August 2005

Author: PersianPlaya408 from Milpitas, California

This Woody Allen flick is by far the funniest of his that I have seen thus far, although i don't think its as good as a film as Annie Hall or The Purple Rose of Cairo, both which I consider masterpieces of Woody's, Love and death is still a brilliant film. The story of Boris Grushenko (Allen), a Russian who is caught up in the invasion of the french lead by Napoleon (Tolkan). Meanwhile he also loves Sonja (Keaton), a girl who has confusions of her own. The film is written brilliantly, great dialogues and wit, its truly offbeat humor, the funniest from Woody. Although his direction here is a bit weird, and at times the plot is not believable at all and obviously satirical, the performances and great dialogues make it work. It was a bit redundant and had a bit too much slapstick at times but still enjoyable. Watching this film, truly had me laughing throughout. Woody was perfect in his role, probably my favorite acting from him along with his acting in Annie Hall. Diane Keaton was also great here, not as good as her other work in this decade (GF, GF2 and Annie Hall), however still great here. James Tolkan was also great as Napoleon. 9/10 #91 on list of all time favorite films

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