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On Christmas Eve of 1914, a remarkable event took place in the trenches where the Germans faced the British and the French. There was a spontaneous cease-fire, as the troops on both sides laid down their weapons and observed the birth of the savior in whose name they were killing each other. The irony of this gesture is made clear in the opening scenes of "Joyeux Noel," in which schoolchildren of the three nations sing with angelic fervor, each in their own language, about the necessity of wiping the enemy from the face of the earth.

The Christmas Eve truce actually happened, although not on quite the scale director Christian Carion suggests in his film, which was nominated for the foreign film Oscar this year. He is accurate, however, in depicting the aftermath: Officers and troops were punished for fraternizing with the enemy in wartime. A priest who celebrated mass in No Man's Land is savagely criticized by his bishop, who believes the patriotic task of the clergy is to urge the troops into battle and reconcile them to death.

The trench warfare of World War I was a species of hell unlike the agonies of any other war, before or after. The enemies were dug in within earshot of each other, and troops were periodically ordered over the top so that most of them could be mowed down by machinegun fire. They were being ordered to stand up, run forward and be shot to death. And they did it. An additional novelty was the introduction of poison gas.

Artillery bombardments blew up the trenches so often that when they were dug out again, pieces of ordinance, bits of uniforms, shattered wooden supports and human bones interlaced the new walls. A generation lost its leaders. European history might have been different if so many of the best and brightest had not been annihilated. Those who survived were the second team. Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves, is the best book I have read about the experience.

Carion's film is a trilingual portrait of a short stretch of the front lines, a small enough microcosm of the war that we're able to follow most of the key players. We meet some of them as they volunteer for service. There is a German tenor named Sprink ( Benno Furmann ), who leaves the opera to serve in uniform. Two Scots brothers sign up: Jonathan and William ( Steven Robertson and Robin Laing ), who agree, "At last, something's happening in our lives!" They are joined by their parish priest, Father Palmer ( Gary Lewis ), who follows them into uniform as a stretcher bearer. The French are led by Lt. Audebert ( Guillaume Canet ), whose father ( Bernard Le Coq ) is the general in charge of these lines. Audebert throws up before leading his men into battle, but that's to be expected.

On Christmas Eve, the Danish singer Anna Sorensen ( Diane Kruger ) is brought to a support area to sing for German officers and the Crown Prince, but insists on being taken to the front lines. She says she wants to sing for the ordinary troops, but her real hope is to see Sprink, her lover. Reaching the lines, she is surprised to find that thousands of little Christmas trees have been supplied by Berlin and form a decoration on top of the German trenches.

The Scots and the French are equally surprised by the trees, and by the sound of singing as Sprink and Sorenson sing "Silent Night" and "Adeste Fidelis." Slowly, tentatively, soldiers begin to poke their heads up over the ramparts, and eventually they lay down their arms and join in the cratered no man's land to listen to the singing, and then to the bagpipes of the Scots, and then to celebrate mass. The next morning, Christmas Day, there is even a soccer game. Precious bits of chocolate are shared. And they bury their dead, whose bodies have been rotting between the lines.

These men have much in common with one another. They come from the same kinds of homes, went to the same kinds of schools and worship the same kinds of Gods. They are required to fight, and most of them are required to die. In a remarkable moment of common interest, they share information about plans for artillery attacks, and all gather in one trench while the other is shelled, then switch trenches for the response. This is treason, I suppose.

"Joyeux Noel" has its share of bloodshed, especially in a deadly early charge, but the movie is about a respite from carnage, and it lacks the brutal details of films like " Paths of Glory ," " A Very Long Engagement " and, from later wars, " Saving Private Ryan " and " Platoon ." Its sentimentality is muted by the thought that this moment of peace actually did take place, among men who were punished for it, and who mostly died soon enough afterward. But on one Christmas, they were able to express what has been called, perhaps too optimistically, the brotherhood of man.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Joyeux Noel (2006)

Rated PG-13

Diane Kruger as Anna Sorensen

Benno Furmann as Nikolaus Sprink

Guillaume Canet as Lieutenant Audebert

Dany Boon as Ponchel

Bernard Le Coq as Le general Audebert

Gary Lewis as Palmer

Daniel Bruhl as Horstmayer

Alex Ferns as Gordon

Written and directed by

• Christian Carion

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FILM REVIEW

A Christmas Truce Forged by Germans, French and Scots

By Stephen Holden

• March 3, 2006

"Joyeux Noël," a glossy French antiwar movie with melted snowflakes in its eyes, tells the true story of an improvised Christmas truce during the first year of World War I. The visually sweeping film, written and directed by Christian Carion, is the kind of feel-good, feel-sad movie with a message that invites you to bask in the glow of communal bonhomie, as enemy soldiers lay down their arms, stagger out of their trenches and sing carols together on a frigid Christmas Eve.

If the film's sentiments about the madness of war are impeccably high-minded, why then does "Joyeux Noël," an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film, feel as squishy and vague as a handsome greeting card declaring peace on earth? Maybe it's because the kind of wars being fought in the 21st century involve religious, ideological and economic differences that go much deeper and feel more resistant to resolution than the European territorial disputes and power struggles that precipitated World War I.

Another reason is that the movie's cross-section of soldiers from France, Scotland and Germany are so scrupulously depicted as equal-opportunity peacemakers that they never come fully to life as individuals. All are well-spoken mouthpieces for cut-and-dried perspectives that vary somewhat, according to rank, background and war experience. As ferociously as they may fight, these soldiers are civilized good guys underneath their uniforms. When they go at one another, they're only following orders.

The schematic story is prefaced with scenes of schoolchildren stiffly reciting nationalistic verses. We then meet Palmer (Gary Lewis), a gentle Anglican priest, who is silently aghast as two brothers, Jonathan (Steven Robertson) and William (Robin Laing), jump with joy at the prospect of leaving their dull Scottish village to go and fight. The saintly Palmer eventually follows them to the front where, soon enough, he presides over the burial of one of them.

We also drop in on a Berlin Opera performance featuring a celebrated Danish soprano, Anna Sorensen (Diane Krüger), that is interrupted by soldiers trooping onstage to announce that Germany has declared war. Anna's boyfriend, the noted German tenor Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann), is swept into battle.

Proceeding directly to the front, "Joyeux Noël" follows a French lieutenant, Audebert (Guillaume Canet), sick with fear, as he leads his men on a charge against the Germans, who are dug into a trench so close at hand that the two sides are within earshot of each other. The German side is led by Lieutenant Horstmayer (Daniel Brühl), a thoughtful multilingual officer who, when Christmas cheer breaks out, confesses that he is Jewish, adding a carefully ironed historical crease to the story, given what we know will happen in Germany only a quarter-century later.

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THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF NEW COLLEGE BERKELEY (Vol. 45 NO.2, Spring 2024)

Suggestions, film review of joyeux noel (2005).

by Sharon Gallagher

Joyeux Noel , an Oscar nominee for best foreign film in 2006, is something I highly recommend for Christmas viewing. Based on the true story of an impromptu WWI truce, this film deserves to become a Christmas classic, along with the well-loved parables of redemption, A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life.

The film’s prelude shows English school children reciting reasons why they should hate Germans, and German schoolchildren reciting their reasons for hating the English.

This early education has its effect on upcoming crops of soldiers. Hearing that Britain has entered the war, two Scottish brothers elatedly tell their village priest that they can’t wait to enlist. They feel they’re about to enter the great adventure of their lives, seemingly unaware that it might end their lives. The priest watches them with grave concern.

The boys join a Scottish battalion and are sent to France, where they join the French in fighting the Germans. In their cold, muddy trenches, the Scots, the Germans, and the French have in common their grief about fallen comrades, their physical misery, and their homesickness.

As Christmas approaches, the longing for family warmth and normal life intensifies. These soldiers have been raised with a cultural sense that hospitality and generosity are a mark of the Christmas celebration.

The Scottish priest has joined the regiment as a medic to support the boys in his parish. On Christmas Eve the groups of soldiers are each celebrating separately. Then the priest picks up his bagpipe and begins to play a song about home, and his boys start singing along. The other troops all stop and listen, understanding the emotion if not the words.

The Germans have small, lighted Christmas trees and, under the influence of the music, they move them so all the troops can see. The Germans also have a special guest, an opera star who has come to sing for them. He begins singing for his countrymen and then bravely steps out into “no man’s land,” the killing field, and sings for all the men. The soldiers are mesmerized and transformed. The leaders are moved to discuss a Christmas Eve truce, deciding that one night off from the fighting won’t matter much to the outcome of the war.

Then the enlisted men come out and talk to each other and exchange gifts: a little chocolate, a little wine. As they share their meager creature comforts, a spirit of celebration takes over. They show each other pictures of their families and become fellow human beings in each others’ eyes. Then, the Scottish chaplain holds a midnight mass (in Latin which, in that situation, is wonderfully non-partisan).

The problems come the day after Christmas. These soldiers have seen that they have more in common with each other than with the power brokers who sent them to war. They simply don’t want to shoot each other.

In one tense moment, a Scottish soldier runs out to “no man’s land” to bury his brother. The Germans are ordered to shoot him but they are reluctant. The Scottish priest rushes out waving a white flag and pulls the man off the field. Then the leaders hold another meeting and declare a truce to bury their dead. A light snowfall had partially covered the bodies, but the newly dug graves show the extent of the carnage.

When word about the impromptu truce gets out to the military, they’re quick to act, disbanding units and punishing their leaders. They understand that the spirit of brotherhood is inimical to warfare.

The Scottish priest is confronted by his Bishop about the Christmas Eve service. In his defense the priest says “these men were attracted to the altar, like to a fire in winter. … I sincerely believe that our Lord Jesus Christ led me in the most important mass of my life.” The priest is denounced and sent home and the Bishop addresses the soldiers on the importance of hating your enemies.

Some reviewers have described this movie as a “triumph of the human spirit.” But the human spirit is fallen and tends naturally to revert to an extreme and often violent tribalism – we read about it every day. What happened on that Christmas Eve in 1914 was a transcendent moment honoring the Prince of Peace.

Sharon Gallagher is the founding editor of Radix magazine and the author of Finding Faith: Life-Changing Encounters with Christ.

(Reprinted from Radix 33:3)

Joyeux Noël (2006) Film Review

• Joseph Tomastik
• December 17, 2022

Joyeux Noël is a highly overlooked Christmas war film that portrays amazing true events with the weight, complexity, and powerful emotion they richly deserve.

It’s the holiday season , easily my favorite time of the year. Which means families come together, Christmas songs are played all around, people overspend on gifts, and everyone’s favorite Christmas specials and films are fired up on the TV. We all have our favorite big-name holiday classics: It’s a Wonderful Life , How the Grinch Stole Christmas , Home Alone , and so on. But among my absolute favorites, and a film that I really want more people to check out, is the much more obscure war drama Joyeux Noël . Every time I bring this film up to someone, they’ve never heard of it. And yet the second I tell them what it’s about, they’re instantly interested.

Written and directed by Christian Carion, Joyeux Noël is a depiction of the incredible true events of 1914 when, in the trenches of World War I, ceasefires were held across enemy lines during Christmas. Soldiers crossed trenches to share stories, sing carols, play football, and finally treat each other as friends for the holiday. In Joyeux Noël , this story is fictionalized in the form of Scottish, French, and German forces all engaging in this same ceasefire . We see the demoralizing physical and emotional tolls the soldiers have taken that lead up to the truce, the inspirational night of the truce itself, and the increasingly complicated aftermath as the troops struggle to go back to treating their new friends as enemies.

Most of the best Christmas-themed stories do more than just take place on Christmas and have pretty holiday visuals. They also tell a story that’s strengthened by and reflects everything that Christmas is supposed to be at its core: generosity, the importance of love and peace, thankfulness, all that good stuff. But to my knowledge, there has never been a story that better shows how powerful the holiday in and of itself is than Joyeux Noël . Not just because the film is based on real events, but because of how it shows the holiday altering the characters’ perceptions and emotions in a setting where such change is so difficult to bring about. All of the soldiers in this movie obviously dislike the war they’re in, but just by the very presence of Christmas constantly hanging over them, you can tell that their disdain for the violence and bitterness is at an all-time high.

The first act of Joyeux Noël greatly shows the demoralization of having to spend such a wonderful time of year in such miserable conditions, zeroing in on a few key characters to give the best examples of this. Soldiers’ attempts at kindness and respect for each other are met with grave consequences in a war that beats down such gestures. Loved ones can’t be communicated with due to them being in enemy-occupied territories. Memorabilia is missing and can’t be recovered. And the higher-ups making decisions away from the trenches either clearly don’t understand the trauma being inflicted on their soldiers, or are too blinded by national pride to see it, making the entire situation even more demoralizing. The film also doesn’t portray any one side as the hero or villain , instead fittingly showing them all as equal men who are just doing as they’re told. Granted, that’s much easier to do in World War I than in certain other wars, but it’s still important to the message of unity.

Some may be put off by how long Joyeux Noël takes to get to the actual Christmas truce – that being 50 minutes in this 116-minute movie – but the buildup really is needed to make you appreciate the film’s centerpiece so much more. You understand and feel exactly why these people feel compelled to go through with such an unbelievable movement. The joys of the holiday are so within their reach that they need to take full advantage of them just to feel free to act like loving human beings again, instead of soldiers forced to fight people they don’t even know. Even former opera singer Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann), who’s privileged enough to be able to leave the trenches for Christmas Eve, leaves his luxurious accommodations and goes back to sing for his men.

This all builds to the initiation of the truce itself, which is o ne of my favorite sequences in any Christmas film or special . I really don’t want to give any specifics away, but the way it’s paced and shot from every soldier’s perspective, the different ways soldiers across trenches connect to each other through their unified love of the holiday, the sheer joy and bravery of the soldier who takes the first step out into the open, the song that’s sung and played, and the tension-filled hope that this idea will actually work… I tear up every single time I watch the scene. It’s one of the most powerful things you can see in a movie and the definition of Christmas at its most potent to me.

The imagery alone of every soldier from every warring side finally emerging from hiding, unarmed and unafraid of one another, deserves to be instantly recognizable among other holiday film iconography. You’re not seeing troops from different countries. You’re seeing people , just like they themselves are seeing each other, sharing their different backgrounds and what they have in common, bonding with each other as if they were never on the battlefield. More of the broader dehumanizing limitations of the war are finally lifted, like when soldiers are able to safely retrieve their dead and give them a proper burial, or when they negotiate with “enemy” troops to finally smuggle letters home to their loved ones. I personally could have used even more time spent on Christmas Eve specifically. It’s not quite as long a stretch of the film as you may expect, and even though there’s still a lot to be moved by in what we do get (as well as what comes afterward), it could have been milked even harder to squeeze every drop of sentiment a story like this should have. But that doesn’t change how emotional this middle portion is, and how much we feel what this means to everyone involved.

But, as you’d expect, everything becomes much more complicated once Christmas, and therefore the truce, is over. Joyeux Noël lets the next few days play out and shows in detail the lingering effects of such a peaceful movement trying to reconcile with the grim reality of the ongoing war. Without giving any details away, the soldiers try to work around what’s expected of them to hold onto what little of that good will they can, if they even can. They’re not ready to go back to how things were, which again shows the strength of the good in them and in Christmas that goes far beyond just one night or one day. The film doesn’t end on the most positive note possible, and it even has one particularly dark scene that shows the cruelty and hatred of war even in the face of continued kindness. But we are shown that happened during the Christmas truce has left a big impact on everyone and was not completely in vain. Even if the changes made aren’t as widespread as we’d hope, they still mean something.

You wouldn’t think that a war film could fit in that much Christmas imagery even if it takes place on Christmas, but Joyeux Noël surprisingly gets you in the mood for the holiday even on a purely visual level. The battlefield is covered with snow, and cinematographer Walther van den Ende really knows how to make it look and feel briskly cold. The nighttime sequences are especially pretty as every light from a lamp, candle, and especially Christmas tree clashes with the chilly, dark sky. A handful of Christmas carols also make appearances, and even the musical pieces that aren’t specifically Christmas-related (including a score by Philippe Rombi) are still arranged in a way that blends in with them. And naturally, the war environment makes each warm visual and gesture feel that much warmer, like how good a fireplace can feel when coming in from a December blizzard outside. The film doesn’t try to show off with any grandiose, sweeping shots outside of the opening credits, instead putting you right there with these people and letting the size of what’s happening speak for itself in a more intimate manner.

The only slight narrative oddity in Joyeux Noël , which really is minor, is a subplot with Sprink and his wife Anna (Diane Kruger), the latter of whom joins him in the trenches for the festivities when she’s allowed to perform as a singer at a gathering near him. These two are both really likeable on their own and have great chemistry together, but Anna’s inclusion feels like an arbitrary way to get an outsider’s perspective into a story that doesn’t really need it. This is mostly a non-issue for most of the movie, but she and Sprink then make a third-act decision that, while understandable, feels shoehorned in and a little clichéd. Especially since, after that decision, these two completely disappear from the rest of the film, never seen or mentioned again. But overall, the pros of these scenes definitely outweigh the relatively small cons.

Joyeux Noël is by no means a well-known film, but it deserves to be seen as a Christmas classic in my book. True, it’s much heavier, grayer, and more bittersweet than the seasonal staples most of us know and love, but what it represents at its core is as miraculous and inspirational as any of those other classics get. It captures the hardships of war as any war-based film should, the miraculous beauty of love as any holiday film should, and the emotionally confusing clash of these two as any film in general should. It shows how lines become blurred and how perceptions change, even if the war must bleakly go on. So, if you want something different but no less spiritual to add to your Christmas lineup, Joyeux Noël is a selection that I can’t recommend more. But however you spend it, I hope everyone has a very safe and Happy Holiday.

Joyeux Noël is now available to watch on digital and on demand .

• TAGS: Christmas , genre: war drama
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Joyeux Noel

The spirit of the holidays is explored in Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas), a forced, feel-good tale that earned a nod for best Foreign Language film at the Oscars . The true story is about a groundbreaking truce that occurred on a World War 1 battlefield on Christmas Eve, 1914. For that one festive night, the German, French, and Scottish troops laid down their weapons and put their bloodbaths on a temporary hiatus. They decided that instead of mercilessly shooting at one another as they’d been doing for months, they would take a break and sing Christmas tunes together while getting sloshed.

The cease-fire would prove to be a landmark in history, but the movie fails to recapture the magic of the event. Like many other war pictures, it has an enormous, dizzying muddle of characters to follow. Among the 15 or so people introduced, the three lieutenants ( Daniel Bruhl , Guillaume Canet, and Alex Ferns) should be a gripping depiction of peers divided only by enemy lines, but they never establish real personalities. Who are these men, outside of their rigid uniforms and numbing efforts to appear in control?

Likewise, the romance between a German tenor (Benno Furmann) and his beautiful singing partner ( Diane Kruger ) is clearly tacked on to add some sizzle to a male-dominated environment. Kruger may be a dazzling sight to behold, which I suppose is why she was cast as the female goddess in Troy , but there is no evidence of her having anything resembling talent. She can’t even believably lip-synch opera tunes, where she looks like a badly dubbed anime character trying to mouth English.

Joyeux Noel has an undeniable air of artifice, which distracts it from being the compelling story it should be. There are too few emotions and too many people offering one note performances. The most poorly developed character is a young Scottish man (Steven Robertson) who loses his brother William (Robin Laing) at the start of the movie. He walks around fighting back tears, writing fabricated letters home to his mother about all the great military feats his brother is accomplishing, and hoping to give him a proper burial. It is hard to feel for someone who died after barely being introduced, and a person with no discernible quality outside of mourning this stranger.

While I haven’t seen the movie A Midnight Clear , which is based on similar events, it’s bound to be superior to this version offered by Writer/Director Christian Carion ( The Girl From Paris ). Joyeux Noel seems like the type of perfect holiday film to turn audiences into puddles of mush and make them wipe their eyes on the nearest sleeve. But it is too calculated and detached to be more than a familiar war flick with gorgeous visuals masking a hollow core. It’s like an uninspired gift that you’ve already received and exchanged in the past, in favor of something you really wanted.

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Joyeux noel, joyeux noël.

Directed by Christian Carion

Without an enemy there can be no war.

France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…

Diane Kruger Benno Fürmann Guillaume Canet Gary Lewis Dany Boon Daniel Brühl Alex Ferns Steven Robertson Frank Witter Bernard Le Coq Ian Richardson Lucas Belvaux Thomas Schmauser Natalie Dessay Rolando Villazón Joachim Bißmeier Robin Laing Michel Serrault Suzanne Flon Calum Anthony Beaton Otto Beckmann Philippe Beautier Steffen Bielig Nicholas Biggam David Bruce Christian Carion France Corbet Mickey Dedaj Steven Duffy Show All… Tom Duncan Roy Entwistle Markus Friedmann Christopher Fulford Michael Grimm Jannis Hensel Mathias Herrmann Jan Hutter Joe Johnson Fraser Johnston Gary Lamont Griogair Lawrie Gerry Lynch Ivan MacDonald Jordan McCurrach Neil McNulty Tony Matthews Florian Mescam Emun Mohammadi David Mullen Michael Pascher Ian Petrie Andy Ramsay Marc Robert Peter Rühring Allan Sawers Louis Friedemann Thiele Johannes Richard Voelkel Gilbert von Sohlern Mark Wood Alexander Wüst

Director Director

Christian Carion

Producers Producers

Christophe Rossignon Andrei Boncea Benjamin Herrmann Philip Boëffard Bertrand Faivre Christopher Borgmann Soledad Gatti-Pascual Kate Ogborn Patrick Quinet

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Susie Figgis Sabine Schroth

Editor Editor

Andrea Sedláčková

Cinematography Cinematography

Walther van den Ende

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Philippe Larue

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Ève François Machuel

Lighting Lighting

Björn Susen Chris Hacken Florin Niculae John Welsh Pierre Stenuit

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Jean-Paul Meurisse Jan Rubens

Production Design Production Design

Jean-Michel Simonet

Art Direction Art Direction

Anina Diener Eduard Daniel Vraciu

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Patrick Colpaert

Special Effects Special Effects

Olivier de Laveleye

Composer Composer

Philippe Rombi

Sound Sound

Thomas Desjonquères Nicolas Becker Pierre Mertens Dean Humphreys Jean-Noël Yven

Costume Design Costume Design

Alison Forbes-Meyler

Makeup Makeup

Julie David Andrea Dardea Tesdall Emmanuelle Brechet Gabi Cretan Ulla Röhling Caitlin Tanner Bärbel Engler Amber Sibley

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Stephanie Hovette Jan Archibald

Senator Film Media Pro Pictures The Bureau Artémis Productions Les Productions de la Guéville TF1 Films Production Nord-Ouest Films Canal+ Ciné Cinéma

Belgium France Germany Romania UK

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

German French Latin English

Releases by Date

16 may 2005, 28 may 2005, 21 sep 2005, 20 dec 2005, 11 feb 2006, 18 feb 2006, 16 may 2006, theatrical limited, 03 mar 2006, 09 nov 2005, 24 nov 2005, 02 dec 2005, 15 dec 2005, 16 dec 2005, 29 dec 2005, 20 jan 2006, 29 apr 2006, 26 may 2006, 01 dec 2006, 07 dec 2006, 15 dec 2006, 25 dec 2006, 25 nov 2005, 09 feb 2006, 06 nov 2006, 05 feb 2007, releases by country.

• Theatrical M
• Theatrical 14
• Physical 14
• Premiere Cannes Film Festival
• Theatrical TP
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical PG
• Premiere French Cinepanorama Film Festival
• Theatrical IIA
• Theatrical M/12

Russian Federation

• Theatrical 12+
• Physical 12+ DVD
• Premiere Valladolid Film Festival
• Premiere French Film Festival
• Theatrical 11

Switzerland

• Premiere Bangkok International Film Festival
• Theatrical 12A
• Physical 12
• Premiere Portland International Film Festival
• Theatrical limited PG-13

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Popular reviews

Review by Ale ★★★½

this is actually one of the most heartwarming Christmas movies out there, why isn't anyone talking about it? Daniel Brühl is in it, so that's already a big bonus anddd its anti-war message works just great... but that kiss was super weird.

Review by Julia Alvarado ★★★★ 1

Daniel Brühl was born to wear fur coats and fur coats only that’s all I know

Review by Hannah 1

damn why he kiss his brother like that

Review by aandizzle ★★★★½

i hope that cat’s back is okay from carrying the movie

Review by Brother Nature 2

This is one of those rare occasions where the film it’s self isn’t amazing, I mean it’s good, but what’s happening on screen is just so hard to not enjoy. I was pretty familiar with the story of this before every hearing about the movie, I really enjoyed the story. This was pretty high up on my watchlist and a buddy of mine just recommended it so I figured I’d check it out, and I’m glad I did.

What takes place on screen is genuinely moving. The way the Scots, the Germans and France all come together is amazing. It’s has some really great moments and by the end I was blown away. This is one of the best Christmas movies.

Review by ashley ★★★½

nobody: the scottish side: y'all wanna hear us play bagpipes

Review by Enfant du Siècle ★★★★ 2

December 1914, northern France, western front. On Christmas Eve, a group of French, German, and Scottish soldiers agree to a momentary truce amidst the chaos and dehumanization of the war. Joyeux Noël is a plea in favor of peace inspired by real events that seem incredibly implausible from a distance, but which are evidence of the good that persists within the human being even in the worst circumstances. The actions of those who risked their lives can be seen as a powerful protest against the irrationality of a war so absurd and cruel that it proved incomprehensible to the ordinary citizen who had lived through the Belle Époque . This is an engaging work that exalts values such as friendship, tolerance, compassion, mutual understanding, and peace. I can understand that some may find it exaggerated, unrealistic, and even a bit sentimental, but it moved me with its anti-war message and call for unity.

Review by Slappy McGee ★★★★★ 1

"Tonight, these men were drawn to that altar like it was a fire in the middle of winter. Even those who aren't devout came to warm themselves."

Wow. This movie CRUSHED me.

Yeah, I guess it could be considered a bit melodramatic, but I didn't feel that AT ALL. I was truly AFFECTED by the message of this film. I was swept away by the sincerity of the presentation of man's human condition. The love of fellowship and community. The desire to connect and give good will.

Centered around a WWI trench standoff between the French, Scottish and German troupes, the story takes place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and ties together several story lines:

* A famous German…

Review by Catt ★★★★½

Oh to be the rat living in Daniel Brühl’s shelter.

Review by CJ Probst ★★★★ 9

Film #1 of The 3 Brits and a Twit Movie of the Week Club December Theme Christmas. Week 1 Submitted by: Me!

From the opening moments of Joyeux Noel , we are shown intertwining vignettes of school children of different nationalities reciting hateful propaganda about their respective enemies, those that have been taught to them to be looked upon as enemies. This significantly ties into the central theme of the film as it is important to first understand what the people of the time and under the war were dealing with. Such hate was instilled from a very young age, to be taught to look upon their fellow man as ‘others,’ so that when the time came, taking such life would…

Review by Robert Wyatt Duncan 4

Film Twitter is sleeping on one of the best Christmas movies ever.

Review by Neill Shaughness ★★★½

A christmas war movie! Hell yeah! Honestly, it blows me away that there aren't dozens of films about this moment in history. I am stridently atheist and even I recognize the ceasefire called by the soldiers in the trenches of WW1 as a Christmas miracle. With the benefit of looking back over 100 years it is easy to see these enlisted soldiers for the heroes that they were, but I appreciate that this film reminds us that the officer corps of all involved armies did not see the value of this moment, and in fact took measures to ensure that nothing like this ever happened again. Joyeux Noel might have come across as cloying if not for the fact that…

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Joyeux Noel Parent Guide

A heartwarming christmas movie unexpectedly rising from scenes of death and destruction..

This inspiring French production tells the story of the Christmas truce of World War I when troops laid down their guns, became acquainted with one another, and took a break from war.

Release date September 11, 2005

Run Time: 116 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

World War I, the “war to end all wars”, lasted for four years and resulted in approximately 20 million deaths. It seems impossible to imagine a heartwarming Christmas movie coming from this death and destruction, but Joyeux Noel (French for “Merry Christmas”) is such a film.

The movie begins ominously, with schoolboys from France, Germany, and England reciting militaristic poetry, calling for the extermination of their nation’s rivals. A few years later, those boys are men, hunkered down in the mud- and blood-filled trenches of the Western front. German Lieutenant Horstmeyer (Daniel Bruhl) is picking on opera singer Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Furmann) who has been transferred to his unit and who he sees as a useless artist. A Scottish priest, Father Palmer (Gary Lewis), is worried about his men, especially young Jonathan (Steven Robertson) who is haunted by his brother’s corpse which lies unburied in No-Man’s-Land. And French Lieutenant Audebert (Guillaume Canet) is wracked with anxiety over his pregnant wife who is living in occupied France. He is desperate to know if she has safely delivered their child. The men are terrified, exhausted, and homesick. Then, on Christmas Eve, Sprink raises his voice in “Silent Night” and a hush falls across the front lines. As Father Palmer’s bagpipes pick up the melody, the men begin to rise from the trenches. And the unofficial truce begins…

The movie’s other downside is its sexual content. There is a completely unnecessary scene of sexual activity between an unmarried couple in which a woman’s back, hip and breast are visible for a few moments. Other content issues are those that would be expected in a war movie. Soldiers, including main characters, are seen smoking and drinking alcohol, although none are shown inebriated. There is also some violence: men are shot and stabbed with bayonets and blood, injuries, and death are seen on the battlefield, in the trenches, and in the hospital. The violence is not glamorized or unnecessarily gory but serves the plot.

Content concerns aside, Joyeux Noel is a moving addition to any collection of Christmas films. There is great power in its messages about the brotherhood of mankind; about the difficulty of hating those we have come to know. As Father Palmer muses about the Christmas Eve service he held between the trenches, “These men were drawn to that altar like it was a fire in the middle of winter. Even those who aren’t devout came to warm themselves. Maybe just to be together. Maye to forget the war.” This film, too, can warm the hearts of those who listen to its message of light and compassion in the midst of death and darkness. After all, isn’t that what Christmas is about?

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Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for joyeux noel.

Joyeux Noel Rating & Content Info

Why is Joyeux Noel rated PG-13? Joyeux Noel is rated PG-13 by the MPAA on appeal for some war violence and a brief scene of sexuality/nudity

Violence: Violence commensurate with trench warfare. Soldiers are shown climbing over the trenches and being shot at by automatic rifles and by snipers. Wounded men in no-man’s-land cry out for help but their fellow soldiers cannot rescue them. Bloody wounds are seen on the field, in the trenches and in hospital. A soldier bayonets a man. Men die on screen. Fellow soldiers are seen mourning their deaths. Burials are shown. Sexual Content: An unmarried couple are shown having sex; the man is on top of the woman and her back, hips and breast are visible. A man sees beetles mating and draws a picture of it. Profanity: There are approximately a dozen moderate profanities, including terms of Christian deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: Troops, including main characters, are shown drinking alcohol on several occasions, although not to the point of drunkenness. Main characters are shown smoking pipes and cigarettes.

Page last updated December 15, 2018

Joyeux Noel Parents' Guide

The Christmas truce was a real event, although slightly different from the story in the film. Read about it here.

After the Christmas truce, the soldiers were transferred because they could no longer make themselves kill men they had come to know. Why is it easy to hate a people you don’t know but hard to hate individuals you do? How can we see people as individuals and not as part of a group? How do you think this message applies to conflicts between nations?

Loved this movie? Try these books…

Older elementary school age children will enjoy Aaron Shepard and Wendy Edelson’s Christmas Truce: A True Story of World War 1. This book takes its text from the letters written by soldiers in the trenches in 1914. John McCutcheon’s Christmas in the Trenches also tells the same story, with somewhat sanitized illustrations, for a similarly aged audience.

Silent Night, Holy Night by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square offers a picture book beautifully illustrated by Robert Barrett. As a bonus, it comes with a DVD-ROM containing narration by Walter Cronkite and music from the choir. This performance can also be viewed online .

Adults and older teens who are interested in this particular bit of history will enjoy Terri Blom Crocker’s The Christmas Truce: Myth, Memory, and the First World War. This non-fiction book examines both the historical record and how this event has been interpreted in popular culture (including in Joyeux Noel) .

Related home video titles:

Another movie set in the First World War is Passchendaele which tells the story of Canadian troops and their sacrifice on the Western Front.

In the second “war to end all wars”, Bing Crosby and his fellow actors play singers go to the front to entertain troops at Christmas time in White Christmas .

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Joyeux Noël (2005) Review

  Joyeux Noël (2005) Director: Christian Carion Screenwriter: Christian Carion Cast: Diane Krüger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis, Alex Ferns, Danny Boon, Daniel Brühl.

Joyeux Noël starts with original images and photos from the war period – the music is captivating from the beginning – and you already get the feeling that it’s going to be a magical and emotional film. The plot centres around the sometimes forgotten Christmas truce which took place during WWI between the allied troops of Europe and the soldiers of Germany. The film is very interesting and well directed, and it’s clear that Christian Carion (who also wrote the screenplay) clearly put all of his heart into it – it’s a passion piece. His direction of his own screenplay makes for an apparent bond of written and visual storytelling. Firstly, the close ups that were used on the soldiers, and especially the generals and the superiors, were really meaningful. Secondly, the start of the film where we see young children from France, England and Germany being indoctrinated with hate and superiority beliefs, was actually quite disturbing. It astonished me, even though I was aware of this kind of propaganda, as it was also very common during WW2, but hearing the words used by those children and how they mechanically repeated them, was really quite gut-wrenching. The dialogues between the young French Lieutenant Camille René Audebert (Guillaume Canet) and his father were always quite poignant. The scenes involving all of the characters are meaningful and important; you truly have to pay attention from start to finish to take as much from this movie as you can. I think the character of the bishop who scolds the priest, father Palmer (Gary Lewis), is particularly powerful, as he preaches hate to the newly arrived recruits. The way the director lets us see through father Palmer’s eyes what the bishop is saying is without doubt one of the highlights of the film as we are forced to feel his pain as he hears the Bishop preach.

The story focuses mainly on the lives of French Lieutenant Camille René Audebert (Guillaume Canet), the German lieutenant Horstmayer (Daniel Brühl) and Lieutenant Gordon a Scottish member of the British army. The figure of the Scottish priest, father Palmer (Gary Lewis), is also very important, as mentioned earlier. His role within the context of the battle is as a reluctant fighter who serves as a stretcher-barer to help the wounded.

All these men long to be back home as soon as possible and would be much happier to spend Christmas with their loved ones. Miss Anna Sørensen, a Danish Soprano, also wants her fiancé by her side – the German Tenor Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann). She manages to be with him for a night thanks to the permission of the Crown Prince, and she decides to go with Sprink and sing for the soldiers during Christmas. The relationship between French Lieutenant Camille Audebert and his loyal batman Ponchel (Danny Boon) is also important to the plot as the two share a real friendship and it is clear that Audebert doesn’t see Ponchel just as his servant but also as his dearest  friend. Ponchel acts as comic relief to an otherwise very dramatic movie and is therefore important in that he breaks up some of the tension to let you breathe at the right times. He’s also presented as a loyal and caring friend who helps the plot by questioning Audebert about his family and so on.

This film was almost perfect, except for maybe a few tweaks. The German side, for example, isn’t as explored as the French; we see the German trench mostly through the eyes of Sprink but not of his superior Lieutenant Horstmayer, or the other characters. Horstmayer is a remarkable character too – it’s hinted that his wife is French and his goodness and reluctance to fight are both very clear. He also shows care for Lieutenant Audebert and for Lieutenant Gordon and they all seem to develop a bond. The Scottish side is explored almost exclusively through the eyes of Father Palmer, who embodies the fraternity between different nations that pervades the trenches for the duration of the truce. Although the Scottish are shown to be the first to start the truce, this isn’t historically correct since there’s evidence that it was actually the Germans who started singing Christmas songs and were soon joined by the English and Scottish, and later the French – this is another issue I have.

It’s true that, as some critics have said, the film is very sentimental, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative, for Joyeux Noël was meant for an audience who knew what to expect given the legend of the event, in this case the Christmas truce . So, a viewer shouldn’t be surprised to see solidarity, love and friendship instead of blood and an onslaught of violence, because that’s what it is supposed to be about. I was personally touched by the strong meaning and message of the film I even cried at some of the more touching parts. Soldiers started to see that there wasn’t much difference between themselves and their opposition and that’s why their superiors punished them, because if all people (not only the soldiers) had realized that, then there would have been no reason to keep fighting that war. The ending of the film presents this clearly thanks to the array of meaningful frames presented by DOP Walther van den Ende.

The cast was carefully chosen, with stars from all over Europe: German Diane Krüger and Daniel Brühl, French comedian Danny Boon, and French actor Guillaume Canet. I found the casting to be very well fitted to their roles and clearly talented, which is certainly a plus. Another plus is the fact that all of the actors spoke in their native languages, apart from the scenes where the characters were together – they were speaking in English in those scenes and this was interesting because it ensured that the characters were presented as if the actual soldiers speaking as they probably did in the trenches. Usually when a cast of different nationalities is involved they all adopt English as the medium of communication – it’s pretty weird and not at all plausible to hear a French or a German speak in English 100% of the time – but this was not the case with this film, and I was really pleased about that.

On a brighter note, I’m very happy to know that the director Christian Carion is thinking of making a sequel on the lives of Lieutenants Horstmayer and Audebert.

I chose to review this film at Christmas because I think it’s not as well-known of a story as it should be and the movie deserves more praise. In many respects, Joyeux Noël is the typical Christmas movie that spreads feelings of kindness, love and peace that I think we all need at this time of the year. Because of its ever-lasting relevance and how much we all need to remember these positive similarities in a world divided by fear, Joyeux Noël gets a…

Score: 22/24

Recommended for you: 50 Unmissable Christmas Movies

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Joyeux Noel

• In December 1914, an unofficial Christmas truce on the Western Front allows soldiers from opposing sides of the First World War to gain insight into each other's way of life.
• In 1914, World War I, the bloodiest war ever at that time in human history, was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorized, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood. This film dramatizes one such section as the French, Scottish and German sides partake in the unique event, even though they are aware that their superiors will not tolerate its occurrence. — Kenneth Chisholm ([email protected])
• In 1914, World War I was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorised, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood.
• On the Christmas Eve of 1914, in the Western Front in France in World War I, the Scottish, the German and the French troops have a moment of truce and share moments of peace and friendship. When the soprano Anna Sorensen succeeds in convincing the Prussian Prince to join her tenor husband Nikolaus Sprink to sing for the German high command, Sprink brings her to the front to sing for his comrades in the trench. The Scottish Lieutenant Gordon and the French Lieutenant Audebert have an informal and unauthorized meeting with the German Lieutenant Horstmayer and negotiate a truce for that night, and the priest Palmer celebrates a mass for the soldiers. When their superiors become aware of the event, they have to pay for the consequence of their acts. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• The story centers mainly upon six characters: Gordon (a Lieutenant of the Royal Scots Fusiliers); Audebert (a French Lieutenant in the 26th Infantry and reluctant son of a general); Horstmayer (a Jewish German Lieutenant of the 93rd Infantry); Palmer (a Scottish priest working as a stretcher-bearer); and German tenor Nikolaus Sprink and his Danish lover, soprano, Anna Sørensen (two famous opera stars). The film begins with scenes of schoolboys reciting patriotic speeches that both praise their countries and condemn their enemies. In Scotland, two young brothers, Jonathan and William, join up to fight, followed by their priest, Father Palmer. In Germany, Sprink is interrupted during a performance by a German officer announcing a reserve call up. Audebert looks at a photograph of his pregnant wife whom he has had to leave behind (in the occupied part of France, just in front of his trench), and prepares to exit into the trenches. A few days before Christmas, the Scots and French troops lead a combined assault on the German trenches in France. The attack causes heavy casualties on both sides, but does not break the stalemate of trench warfare. One of the Scottish brothers, William, is mortally wounded during the attack, and his brother Jonathan is forced to abandon him in no-man's-land as they retreat. Audebert loses his wallet (with the photograph of his wife) in the German trench in the confusion. In Germany, Anna manages to get permission to perform for Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and Sprink is allowed to accompany her. They spend a night together and then perform. Afterward, Sprink expresses bitterness at the comfort of the generals at their headquarters, and resolves to go back to the front to sing for the troops. Sprink is initially against Anna's decision to go with him, but he agrees shortly afterward. The unofficial truce begins when the Scots begin to sing festive songs and songs from home, accompanied by bagpipes. Sprink and Sørensen arrive in the German front-line and Sprink sings for his comrades. As Sprink sings Silent Night he is accompanied by a piper in the Scottish front-line. Sprink responds to the piper and exits his trench with a small Christmas tree singing "Adeste Fideles". Following Sprink's lead the French, German, and Scottish officers meet in no-man's-land and agree on a cease-fire for the evening. The various soldiers meet and wish each other "Joyeux Noel","Frohe Weihnachten", and "Merry Christmas." They exchange chocolate, champagne, and photographs of loved ones. Horstmayer gives Audebert back his wallet, with a photograph of his wife inside, lost in the attack a few days prior, and connect over Pre-war memories. Palmer and the Scots celebrate a brief Mass for the soldiers (in Latin as was the practice in the Catholic Church at that time) and the soldiers retire deeply moved. However, Jonathan remains totally unmoved by the events around him, choosing to grieve for his brother. On Christmas Day the officers have coffee together and decide to "bury their dead on the day Christ was born". Later, they play a football match against each other. The following day, after sheltering each other during artillery barrages on both sides, the commanders decide it is time for all of them to go their own way. The French, Scottish, and German soldiers now must face the inevitable consequences from their superiors. As the Germans return to their own trenches after the Allied barrage, Sprink and Anna quietly remain with the French and ask Audebert to be taken prisoner, so as to remain together. Father Palmer is to be sent back to his own parish and his regiment disbanded as a mark of shame. Despite emphasizing the humanity and goodwill of the truce, he is rebuked by the bishop, who then preaches an anti-German sermon to new recruits, in which he describes the Germans as evil and commands the recruits to kill every one of them. Father Palmer overhears the preaching, and takes off his Christian cross necklace as he leaves. Back in the trenches, the Scots are ordered by a furious major (who is angered by the truce) to shoot a German soldier who is entering no-man's-land and crossing towards French lines. The soldiers refuse to kill him and shoot a warning shot above the German soldier's head. However, vengeful Jonathan shoots the German, mortally wounding him. The soldier is revealed to be Ponchel, the local Ch'Ti aide to Audebert, disguised as a German. Audebert, hearing the familiar alarm clock ringing outside, rushes out to see Ponchel. With his dying words, Ponchel reveals he had gained help from the German soldiers and visited his mother and had coffee with her. He also informs Audebert that he has a young son named Henri. Audebert's punishment is being sent to Verdun, and receives a dressing down from his father, a general. In a culminating rant, young Audebert upbraids his father, expressing no remorse at the fraternization at the front, and also his disgust for the civilians or superiors who talk of sacrifice but know nothing of the struggle in the trenches. He also informs the general about his new grandson Henri; the general recommends they "both try and survive this war for him". Horstmayer and his troops, who are confined in a train, are informed by the Crown Prince that they are to be shipped to the Eastern Front, without permission to see their families as they pass through Germany. He then stomps on Jorg's harmonica, and implies that Horstmayer does not deserve his Iron Cross. As the train departs, the Germans start humming a Scottish carol they learned from the Scots, L'Hymne Des Fraternisés'/ I'm Dreaming Of Home.

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Joyeux Noel Reviews

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When a romantic painting of a Christmas market captures the imagination of copy editor Lea, she is sent to France with pragmatic reporter Mark to uncover the mystery behind the artist.

Joyeux Noel

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Joyeux Noel Reviews

Joyeux Noel can’t help but be a bit unique in story. Okay, using a love story mystery to bring two people together in time for their own holiday romance is familiar, but it’s not worn out.

Full Review | Oct 30, 2023

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Thursday, december 25, 2014, movie review: "joyeux noel" (2005).

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Joyeux Noel’ on Hallmark, Where A Copy Editor Is Gnome Alone For The Holidays

Where to Stream:

• Joyeux Noel (2023)

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Hallmark closes out its second weekend of holiday programming with Joyeux Noel. This international romance stars Jaicy Elliot and Brant Daugherty — who also cowrote the movie with his wife, Kim Daugherty. The movie takes us far away from Connecticut, where every Hallmark movie seems to be set this year, as our leads try to uncover the truth behind a lost French love story. But is this a story worth publishing? Or should this one have stayed locked in a music box?

JOYEUX NOEL : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Jaicy Elliot ( Grey’s Anatomy ) plays Lea, a copy editor for a big city newspaper who dreams of two things: becoming a published journalist and finding a doctor of medium height to marry. Her mom, however, thinks she’s being too picky and waiting for the perfect love story — and then Lea finds one, although this love story is not her own. Lea finds the story written in a journal stashed in a music box that she from an antique store. Coincidentally — or is it fate? — the journal happens to belong to a mysterious midcentury French painter whose portrait of a lone woman standing alone in a Christmas market has captured the public’s imagination. Who is this woman? Who is the painter? How does the love story in the journal end?

That’s Lea’s pitch to her editor, who is in need of a big story for the annual Christmas edition of the paper. Lea’s editor assigns the story… to grumpy hard news reporter Mark. Mark ( #Xmas’ Brant Daugherty) doesn’t want this assignment but, as his editor says, he is around — and so is Lea, who doesn’t have a degree in journalism but she does possess a passion for love stories as well as the journal with all the clues pertaining to the painter’s identity. Lea’s in.

From there, Lea and Mark travel to a tiny village in Paris where they intend to retrace the romance detailed in the journal and determine once and for all if there’s any truth to the legend of a magic Christmas market where people are fated to fall in love. Lea and Mark should be safe, though. They’re polar opposites! Even if the legend is real, there’s no way they will fall in love with each other… right?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This feels like the second half of a double feature that began in February when Hallmark aired A Paris Proposal .

Performance Worth Watching: The French actors are all fantastic and bring authenticity to Hallmark’s depiction of a tiny European town. Ciara Prioux is particularly great as Sophie, the hotelier’s excitable, quasi-con-artist pre-teen daughter. Her dynamic with Daugherty is especially delightful as she tries to impress him with her reporter skills — and then pranks him when he doesn’t “leave a gift out for the gnomes.” I will also run the way Prioux delivers the line “I’m Freeench . I stay up late” through my head all season long.

Memorable Dialogue: Mark’s advice: “You want to be a good reporter, Lea? Here’s a tip: Expect the worst. It’s always the worst.”

A Holiday Tradition: Of course every single newspaper needs an attention-grabbing feature story for Christmas morning. It’s just part of American tradition, grabbing the newspaper from the driveway before breakfast and reading the annual holiday love story to everyone gathered around the table. This is something we all do, every year, and have for hundreds of years.

As for Sophie’s gnome scam — my cursory Google search revealed that gnomes are a big part of the holidays in Scandinavian countries… so, not France. And the tradition isn’t that you leave a gift for a gnome, but that the gnomes bring gifts for kids on Christmas Eve. Listen: tradition or not, Sophie’s going to get trinkets and snacks out of the hotel’s guests one way or another.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: Joyeux Noel is how they say “merry Christmas” in France, so it’s appropriate, if generically so. Something like Marché de Noël ( The Christmas Market ) would be a little more specific, and they actually say that phrase in the movie.

Our Take: After holiday movies set in the Midwest and New England, Joyeux Noel kicks off 2023’s set of globetrotting Hallmark movies. We’ll visit Germany, Scotland, and a Christmas island before the season’s over, but right now we’re going to France. And unlike nearly every other Hallmark movie, which make Canada look like Kansas and Connecticut, Joyeux Noel actually filmed in France. You can tell, as the film has a distinctly different feel from the rest of Hallmark’s lineup so far. There’s a lived-in feel to the locations, and it helps vary the kinds of holiday aesthetics that we see on the network. We see Small Town U.S.A. get dressed up for the holidays all the time, but Small Town, France? This is downright cultured .

With such a unique setting, Joyeux Noel can’t help but be a bit unique in story. Okay, using a love story mystery to bring two people together in time for their own holiday romance is familiar (2020’s The Christmas Setup comes to mind), but it’s not worn out. And giving Mark and Lea a task to complete, one that’s genuinely a challenge, takes care of a lot of necessary plot elements. It gets them in a unique place, gives them a list of tasks to complete and people to meet, and the shared struggle of trying to solve a 70-year-old mystery is enough to turn co-workers into something that needs to be reported to HR (in a good way). All of this makes Joyeux Noel a fun watch that moves at a nice clip.

Really, hats off — or berets off? — to Elliot and Daugherty for finding and fostering chemistry between these two characters, because it’s rare that a male lead is as combative and standoffish as Mark. But through the required getting to know you scenes, the script works in reasonable justifications for his ‘tude and finds points of connection for Mark and Lea that feel right and real. And I gotta admit — the Christmas market where the majority of the film takes place is so quaint and cozy, I could buy any two Hallmark characters falling in love there. It’s like Galaxy’s Edge, but for Christmas!

Our Call: STREAM IT. Joyeux Noel makes for a delightful first stop on the 2023 Hallmark Holiday World Tour.

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The Suburban Times

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Joyeux Noel – Film Review

Blake Meadowcroft · December 10, 2019 · ·

On Christmas Eve during the First World War, one of the most unexpected yet heart warming events occurred on the Western Front: French, British, Scottish and German soldiers settled on a cease-fire, exited their trenches, met each other in no man’s land and celebrated Christmas together. They talked, showed photos of their loved ones to each other, exchanged food and drink, sang carols together, gave each other the opportunity to bury their dead and even participated in friendly games of football. It’s one of the most surreal and sweet occurrences not only in the history of war, but in the history of Western Civilization. Joyeux Noel, the film based on that occurrence, is a sometimes overly sappy but well executed adaptation of the Christmas Truce and its aftermath, and is an all around solid holiday and anti-war film.

I used the phrase “Christmas Truce” in singular form, but there were multiple truces in the early period of World War 1 that we are aware of through letters written by soldiers and wartime documents. Joyeux Noel doesn’t adapt a specific Christmas Truce, but tries to capture the spirit of all of them with its own slightly fictitious one. All of the characters in the film are invented, but they feel like they could have existed. Lieutenant Camille René Audbert (Guillaume Canet) has a pregnant wife who he had to leave behind in the occupied part of France, and Father Palmer (Gary Lewis) is a stretcher-bearer whose beliefs in decency and humanity over violence are ironically rejected by war hardened members of his own religion. And Lieutenant Hortsmayer (Daniel Brül) is a outwardly cynical Jewish German who can’t help but be touched by the armistice, to the point of offering shelter to the French and Scottish allies after he learns that their trench is about to be bombarded on Christmas Day. I’m pretty sure that counts as treason, but what the hey, it’s Christmas!

The only characters who I feel are slightly out of place and hard to swallow are Private Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann) and his fiancée Anna Sørensen (Diane Kruger), who sneak out of a private party put together by Crown Prince Wilhelm (Thomas Schumauser) in order to sing for the soldiers on the front line. How convenient for the soldiers that they get to listen to a miniature Christmas concert as sung by a tenor and a mezzo-soprano! Otherwise, the audience would have to listen to a dirty version of “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” as sung by a drunken Scottish sniper who got a bit too merry with his newfound German pals. I joke, but Fürmann’s and Kruger’s singing voices, as done by Rolando Villazón and Natalie Dessay, are absolutely beautiful, and I wouldn’t dare suggest they be cut from the movie, even if their respective characters feel slightly manufactured.

Of course, the movie must address the sad truths of the Christmas Truce. Not only was it temporary, but many of the participants of it were demoted, chastised or ended up dying in the war later. Many of the soldiers were sent home or to another regiment because they couldn’t pull the trigger anymore. How could they? After all, the person they were shooting at was a person they had called friend just last night. And that’s where the Christmas spirit shines through the most in the film. On one night in one of the most brutal wars in human history filled with poison gas, razor wire and dead friends, two opposing sides chose friendship and kindness over hatred and violence.

About Blake Meadowcroft

Blake Meadowcroft was born and raised in Washington state and he’s too lazy to move to another one. He graduated from Charles Wright Academy in 2014, and then Central Washington University in 2018 majoring in Film and Video Studies with an emphasis in critical studies. He was a DJ for two years at 88.1 The ‘Burg, his college radio station, and has some experience in stand up comedy. In layman’s terms, he’s really good at watching movies and saying if they’re good or not. His parents didn’t really put a cap on how many or what kind of movies he was allowed to watch when he was growing up, so he kind of……went crazy. He is passionate about film history and filmmaking, and approaches his reviews with both a critical mind and a wry sense of humor. He doesn’t like to pick favorites in terms of genre (although if you were to twist his arm, he’d probably go with fantasy). He’s willing to give any kind of movie a chance and doesn’t judge it based on what kind of film it is, but how well it’s made. Blake has volunteered and interned for multiple film festivals including the Ellensburg, Gig Harbor, and Tacoma film festivals, and has experience working as a theater manager at a boutique movie theater. He lives in Redmond, and is currently a film critic for Lakeside Living Magazine.

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December 11, 2019 at 1:34 am

very nice post thanks