| | |  | FRANCE | Home » » Joyeux Noel (Widescreen) | | | | | | | Description: | | Academy Awardr, Golden Glober and BAFTA nominee for Best Foreign Film, JOYEUX NOEL (Merry Christmas) tells the true-life story of the spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I. Enemies leave their weapons behind for one night as they band together in brotherhood and forget about the brutalities of war. Even if you don't normally stock foreign films, give this title a chance. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Natalie Dessay, Rolando Villazón | | Director:
| Christian Carion | | Format:
| AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| English, French, German, Latin | | Subtitle:
| English, Spanish, Portuguese | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | | Run Time:
| 116 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| November 14, 2006 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 150 reviews |
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87 of 93 found the following review helpful:
 Merry Christmas in No Man's Land: Inspired by an Episode in World War ISep 29, 2006
By Tsuyoshi
On Christmas Eve in 1914, the first year of World War I, there was an unauthorized truce between the German and the British/French armies. Both sides first agreed to bury the dead, and a mass was held during this brief time. Some soldiers even enjoyed playing football in no man's land.
`Joyeux Noël' is inspired by a real-life event that really happened on Christmas Eve at the several front lines during the First World War, and presents the material in a pretty orthodox way, employing the well-handled multi-plot device, in which we will witness the joys and the pains of each character: Guillaume Canet as French lieutenant, Daniel Brühl as German officer, and Gary Lewis as Scottish military chaplain. The cast playing the soldiers are unanimously good, but it is Gary Lewes as tormented military chaplain who is most impressive among them.
'Joyeux Noël' also has a sub-plot about a beautiful soprano singer played by Diane Kruger and tenor singer (and her husband) by Benno Fürmann. I don't know to what extent the film generalized these historical events it shows, but I think their love story looks less effective before the more realistic episodes about the solider in trench. Still these songs are beautiful, and so is Diane Kruger (whose voice is dubbed by soprano singer Natalie Dessay), showing the power of the music which is timeless and universal.
But to some viewers (including me), smaller things would remain more strongly in their mind. A stray cat found in trench is given different names by the German and the French soldiers. There is a good-natured French soldier Ponchel, who sneaks out of the trench every night to meet his family living behind the enemy line. There are moments when the film wears its heart on its sleeve, but it is most touching when it chooses not to be so, showing the details of the life under the extreme circumstances.
In spite of its wave of sentimentality, `Joyeux Noël' does not forget the reality surrounding the soldiers. It surely has some "feel-good" moments that are often seen in the films about Christmas, but it is also about the humans on the battlefield, and you will realize it when you know the fate awaiting them. After all, it was still 1914, and most people must have thought the war would be over soon while we know it finally ended in 1918. The film has a clear, life-affirming message bolstered by moving songs, but the film may look slightly poignant when you imagine how many of them could have survived the war. `Joyeux Noël' is an inspirational French film with several touching songs, a bit of sadness, and hope, too.
47 of 50 found the following review helpful:
 "It came upon the midnight clearDec 07, 2006
By Leonard Fleisig
"Len"
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold.
"Peace on earth, good will to men,
from heaven's gracious King.
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing."
On December 24, 1914 a spontaneous, unscheduled, unapproved truce among German, French and British soldiers took hold in various sectors along the front lines. Soldiers exchanged cigarettes and alcohol, played football (soccer), and allowed the removal and burial of dead soldiers from the frozen tundra of no mans land. "Joyeux Noel", a French-made film with an international cast directed by Christian Carion, is a fictionalized account of this truce. It is a wonderful film that in its own way stands with or close Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" as one of the great films about the horrors of what has come to be known as the First World War.
The film opens in the days and years before the start of the "Great War". We see British (in this instance Scottish), French, and German schoolchildren absorbing lessons in Kiplingesque nationalism and empire-building that taught each group that God was on their side and demonized the evil German, Briton, or French. After a quick introduction to the main characters the war begins in all its brutality. The Scottish and French troops rise up from their trenches and are mowed down by German machine-gunners. The dead and wounded are left in no-mans land. At the same time we see the respective high commands, enjoying the comfort of life war out of harms way. As night falls on Christmas Eve, German soldiers place small Christmas trees atop their trenches. A bagpiper plays a Christmas tune and the German soldiers applaud. A German enlisted man, a well-known singer (the relationship between the soldier and his Danish wife, also a singer form the basis of much of the plot) rises out of the trenches to sing Silent Night.
"Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel-sounds
the blessed angels sing."
It is said that music hath charms to sooth the savage heart and in short order the German, French, and Scottish squad leaders (the "Three Wise Men"?) meet to discuss a short truce. The truce takes on a life of its own and forms the centerpiece of the rest of the film. The interaction amongst the soldiers is well crafted and well acted. There are even light moments as a stray dog routinely crosses the field of battle to take food from whatever army wishes to feed it. The cinema photography is lush without detracting from the story line. The songs sung by the soldiers as they observe the holiday truce are compelling. In the context of a war, even during a truce, the words to hymns of peace are tragically ironic. The words of peace must have been comforting but it is a comfort born of stolen moments and director Carion does an excellent job conveying the all too temporary nature of this reprieve.
"Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and warring humankind hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!"
The film shows us the aftermath of the truce, the reaction of the high commands and it is these moments that bring Paths of Glory to mind.
Joyeux Noel is a beautifully drawn and acted film that very much deserved (and perhaps should have won) its Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
54 of 59 found the following review helpful:
Worth WeighingNov 23, 2006
By Eric Wilson
"novelist"
With our country at war and Christmas coming up, this seemed like a timely movie to share with my family. I'd heard it was based on actual events from World War I, a Christmas Eve on which three sides of the war in the trenches laid down their weapons to share in an evening of peace.
"Joyeux Noel" is not only beautifully directed and photographed, it uses a cast of great actors. The story revolves around a Scottish priest caught up in the drama, two German opera singers caught between love and patriotism, and a French lieutenant missing his pregnant, sick wife. Other characters are included as the movie meanders toward the momentous evening on December 24, 1914. For American audiences raised on constant drama, this might seem to lack fireworks; yet the ideas here are potent, made all the more so by their basis in fact. When one man makes a simple sacrifice for the sake of his superior, he pays a price that underlines the irony of war.
In conclusion, the movie is a moving tribute to men of three nations who saw past hate and political intrigue long enough to share in their humanity. The true enemies reveal themselves as those who stick dogmatically to their own agendas. This is a message worth weighing--spiritually and politically--in light of our current Christmas situation.
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
The Power of Song as a Gateway of UnderstandingNov 16, 2006
By Grady Harp
Writer/director Christian Carion ('Une hirondelle a fait le printemps' aka 'The Girl from Paris') is unafraid to write and create cinematic tales that touch the heart as well as the mind. 'Joyeux Noël' is a story of war and its effects on soldiers that goes far beyond sentimentality (or the opposite emphasis on brutality as found in American films) and offers the viewer insights to the responses of young men's minds to the monster of war and how they cope.
Based on a true story, the film opens with the usual callous killing among three groups of soldiers - German, French, and Scottish - who face an oncoming Christmas Eve in the trenches, the realities of fighting have precluded their getting time to retreat for air. But a miracle happens: among the Germans is a famous opera tenor Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann) who has aligned with his fellow troops in the trenches, hoping he can bring some minor sense of Christmas and understanding to them. His soprano partner Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger) finds a way to be with him in the trenches on Christmas Eve, 1914. Meanwhile the disgruntle troops of all three sectors are planning meager festivities and a bit of relaxation even in the trenches as the bodies of the day's plunder lie in the snow of no man's land. We get to know the French Lieutenant Audebert (Guillaume Canet) and his orderly Ponchel (Dany Boon), the German head of the regiment Horstmayer (Daniel Brühl), and the Scots - especially the priest/medic Palmer (Gary Lewis).
Christmas Eve comes and the voice of Sprink (in reality the tenor Rolando Villazón) sings 'Stille Nacht', rising out of the trenches to sing in the open of no man's land. Soon he is accompanied by the Scottish bagpipes and the 'chorus' of the Germans, the Scots and the French. They all emerge, share gifts of champagne and other libations, and agree to a cease-fire in honor of the holiday. It is in this magic moment that the true personalities of these warring men surface and each is seen as a vulnerable puppet of the WW I, exchanging addresses to meet after the war. Anna Sorenson has managed to enter the scene and during a communal mass led by Palmer she sings (the voice is Natalie Dessay) an Ave Maria (composed by the film's composer Philippe Rombi): the lovers have previously sung a duet version of Bach's 'Bist du bei mir'. For that moment in time the horrors of war melt and the camaraderie of the men glows and is carried into Christmas Day when all three groups of soldiers agree to bury their dead together. Of course the brutality and ignorance of war re-engages and the leaders of the three groups enter camp and threaten courts martial and punishment for the troops' lack of military discipline. The film ends in a manner that leaves the audience able to integrate the happenings of that Christmas Eve on the futures of these men.
The script is superb, the cast is uniformly excellent, the sets and cinematography are creatively moody, and the musical score by Philippe Rombi is one of the finest in years: the ending song 'I'm Dreaming of Home' deserves to become a standard. Would that everyone could see this film, a bit of global hope in the cloud of the destruction that shadows our world right now. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, November 06
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Merry Christmas, Everyone ...Oct 31, 2006
By Brendan M. Howard
When I saw Silent Night, Holy Night on DVD and read the accompanying book, I cried like a baby. The story of spontaneous "fraternizing" between enemy soldiers during WWI on the front on Christmas in 1914 is like a hippie's dream come true. Soldiers laid down their arms and recognized the humanity in the men in the trench just yards away. They joined them in song, helped bury their dead and swapped addresses with their new friends - friends they were sworn to kill. The amazing thing is, it was true. Now it's inspired the French feature film Joyeux Noel, based on the photos and first-hand accounts of these fraternizations.
The tale is told on the ground in war-torn France, with French and Scottish troops on one side and Germans on the other. The stage is set Christmas Eve when a German tenor sings, and the troops put their small Christmas trees on top of the trench. Soon, Scottish bagpipes join the Germans in a Christmas hymn, and the singer is swept away by the moment and marches out into no-man's land to place a Christmas tree. Commanders of the forces there - German, Scottish and French - meet and arrange a night's treaty. The troops come climbing out of their trenches, eventually drinking together, playing together, talking together. A midnight Mass is punctuated by distant bombs.
In the morning, the new, war-scarred friends find something special has happened that forces commanding officers of all three armies back at their respective headquarters to disband these men. They won't shoot each other, and they even invite opposing forces into their trenches to hide from artillery fire.
The astonishing thing is, it's mostly true, as writer-director Campion explains in an interview and in his commentary. The German tenor who brought applause from the opposing side and a truce to bury the dead is real. Men refused to shoot at the opposing side and were disbanded and sent elsewhere. And it happened not just Christmas Eve, 1914, but 1915 and 1916 as well. The movie opens, though, with a terrible truth. The Europeans and their governments had all been hating each other for a long time before the war. Campion starts the film with children singing sickeningly jingoistic songs about the evils of the other nations. These were songs learned years - even decades before - World War I ever started.
DVD Extras: Aforementioned interview and commentary. Subtitles in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Audio in French or English.
-- Brendan Howard
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