Joyeux Noël (2005)

Directed by

Christian Carion

Genre

drama film, war film, historical film, Christmas film

Country

Romania, Germany, United Kingdom, France

Runtime

1h 56m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 935 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

During World War I, French, British, and German soldiers declare an unofficial ceasefire on Christmas Eve. They share food, sing carols, and briefly connect as people rather than enemies.

poignantbittersweetsomberhopefulhumanizinggentlereflectivetender

What happens

Joyeux Noël means Merry Christmas in French. For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation) and Merry Christmas (disambiguation) Joyeux Noël (English: Merry Christmas) is a 2005 war drama film based on the Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, British, and German soldiers. It was written and directed by Christian Carion, and screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The film, which includes one of the last appearances of Ian Richardson before his death, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards. It is a fictionalised account of an actual event that took place in December 1914, when Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, sent the lead singer of the Berlin Imperial Opera company on a solo visit to the front line. Singing by the tenor, Walter Kirchhoff, to the 120th and 124th Württemberg regiments led Scottish soldiers in their trenches to stand up and applaud. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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