Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon

2012 film

Sergey Livnev
Sergey Shefir
Boris Shefir
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Andrey Yakovlev

StarringPavel Derevyanko
Volodymyr ZelenskyyCinematographyIrek KhartovichMusic byVladimir Saiko

Production
companies

Central Partnership
Leopolis
Studio Kvartal-95

Release date

January 18, 2012 (2012-01-18)

Running time

80 minutesCountriesRussia, UkraineLanguageRussianBudget$8.5 million^[1]Box office$7.8 million^[1]

Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon (Russian: Ржевский против Наполеона, romanized: Rzhevsky protiv Napoleona; originally planned title «Наполеон капут!» Napoleon goes Kaput!^[2]) is a Russian-Ukrainian 2012 comedy film, sequel to the 2008 picture Hitler goes Kaput!^[3]^[4]

Plot

Russia, beginning of the 19th century. The troops of Napoleon Bonaparte (Volodymyr Zelenskyy) are triumphantly advancing into the country. Napoleon already managed to conquer Europe and capture Moscow. Now, the next step in his plan is to win the battle for the Russian capital, St. Petersburg. Chances for the Russian army to resist the French enemy are extremely small as they are too weak and not prepared. General Kutuzov (Vladimir Simonov) knows that if for some reason Napoleon lingers in Moscow, his army will win valuable time and get a better chance of victory. Only a mysterious Russian woman could distract womanizing Napoleon from his plans to conquer the world. Kutuzov sets off on the challenging task of looking for a suitable candidate. Lieutenant Rzhevsky (Pavel Derevyanko) is perhaps the most famous tempter in Russia. Now he is serving a life sentence for promoting the sexual revolution. Like Bonaparte, Rzhevsky has an unrivaled skill in enchanting women. The generals offer the lieutenant freedom - all that is required of him in return is to dress himself as a woman and to charm Napoleon. The plan seems simple enough, the lieutenant is confident in his abilities, but suddenly Rzhevsky meets the woman of his dreams — Miss Moscow 1810 — Natasha Rostova (Svetlana Khodchenkova)... He is not ready to let her go even for his own freedom.

Cast

Pavel Derevyanko as lieutenant Rzhevsky / Countess Rzhevskaya
Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Napoleon
Svetlana Khodchenkova as Natasha Rostova
Mikhail Galustyan as Marquis de Mazo Sad
Mikhail Yefremov as Leo Tolstoy
Marat Basharov as Pyotr Bagration
Evgeny Koshevoy as Lefty
Ksenia Sobchak as Madame Xue-Xue
Anna Semenovich as Ostrozhskaya
Anfisa Chekhova as realtor
Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself
Vladimir Simonov as Mikhail Kutuzov
Dmitry Mukhamedev as Michel Ney
Ilya Oleynikov as Demian
Potap as Gopnik
Viktor Gusev as himself
Ruslana Pysanka as Madame Golovina
Tatyana Orlova as Juju
Yuri Galtsev as mayor
Alexander Pershin as Butler
Alexey Diveev-Church as the leader of the news
Irina Novak as barmaid of the beauty salon

Production

Jean-Claude Van Damme agreed to act in the film for free, with only his lodging expenses paid.^[5]

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "Сборы / Ржевский против Наполеона". Kinopoisk.
^ «Наполеон капут!» превратился в «Шерше ля фам», intermedia.ru, 4 June 2009
^ "Ржевский против Наполеона". VokrugTV.
^ Anna Gorbashova (20 January 2012). "На премьере фильма «Ржевский против Наполеона» меняли анекдот на приз". RIA Novosti.
^ "Бесплатная роль Ван Дама". VokrugTV.
^ "Ржевский против Наполеона". Kritikanstvo.