Love and Death
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Plot Summary from: Love and Death
While his relations spend their time in the typical Russian pursuits of carousing, drinking and fighting, all Boris (Woody Allen) wants to do is collect butterflies and write poetry. The only person who appears to be on his wavelength is his cousin Sonia (Diane Keaton). Secretly Boris loves Sonia, who declares that she needs a man who can fulfil her mentally, emotionally and sexually - just the sort of man Boris thinks that he is. But Sonia turns out to be in love with Boris’s brother. She then ends up marrying a foul-smelling herring merchant.
Now a war breaks out and Napoleon’s army invaids Russia (1812). Boris tries to avoid joining the army, but his mother insists in front of the whole family, that he will fight and die in the front line. In battle, Boris proves himself adept at falling over, running away and breaking his sword. Then he manages to hide in a french cannon. When the weapon is fired, Boris shoots out and lands on a tent of french general - killing them all and making him a war hero in the process.
When Boris returns to Russia, he is challanged to a duel by an expert marksman. Realising that this is his last night alive, Boris visits Sonia and persuades her to marry him if he survives. She doesn't really love him, but she decides to do so as he's sure to die the next day. But Boris manages to survive and marries the unpleased Sonia.
With time and patient, they grow to be a good couple. Later they conceive a plan to assassinate Napoleon. They fail in action, because, when holding the gun to Napoleons head, Boris doubts the morallity of killing another human. He is captured and prisoned. The angel of mercy visits him to prison, reassuring him that Napoleon intends to pardon him at the last minute. But he is shot anyway.
While his relations spend their time in the typical Russian pursuits of carousing, drinking and fighting, all Boris (Woody Allen) wants to do is collect butterflies and write poetry. The only person who appears to be on his wavelength is his cousin Sonia (Diane Keaton). Secretly Boris loves Sonia, who declares that she needs a man who can fulfil her mentally, emotionally and sexually - just the sort of man Boris thinks that he is. But Sonia turns out to be in love with Boris’s brother. She then ends up marrying a foul-smelling herring merchant.
Now a war breaks out and Napoleon’s army invaids Russia (1812). Boris tries to avoid joining the army, but his mother insists in front of the whole family, that he will fight and die in the front line. In battle, Boris proves himself adept at falling over, running away and breaking his sword. Then he manages to hide in a french cannon. When the weapon is fired, Boris shoots out and lands on a tent of french general - killing them all and making him a war hero in the process.
When Boris returns to Russia, he is challanged to a duel by an expert marksman. Realising that this is his last night alive, Boris visits Sonia and persuades her to marry him if he survives. She doesn't really love him, but she decides to do so as he's sure to die the next day. But Boris manages to survive and marries the unpleased Sonia.
With time and patient, they grow to be a good couple. Later they conceive a plan to assassinate Napoleon. They fail in action, because, when holding the gun to Napoleons head, Boris doubts the morallity of killing another human. He is captured and prisoned. The angel of mercy visits him to prison, reassuring him that Napoleon intends to pardon him at the last minute. But he is shot anyway.