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 (Diane Krüger) succeeds in convincing the Prussian Prince to join her tenor husband Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann) 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 (Alex Ferns) and the French Lieutenant Audebert (Guillaume Canet) have an informal and unauthorized meeting with the German Lieutenant Horstmayer (Daniel Brühl) and negotiate a truce for that night, and the priest Palmer (Gary Lewis) celebrates a mass for the soldiers. When their superiors become aware of the event, they have to pay for the consequence of their armistice.
"Joyeux Noël" is a dramatization with fictional characters and situations of a true event of a Christmas' miracle and insanities of war. The story is extremely beautiful and recalls one of those masterpieces of Frank Capra, with a magnificent anti-war message, and I have included this wonderful and remarkable movie in my list of favorites ever. This is the first film that I see from director and writer Christian Carion, and I was really impressed with this classy and very well acted production. The wonderful Diane Krüger deserved a nomination to the Oscar for her brilliant top-notch performance in the role of Anna Sorensen; and she is perfectly dubbed by the French soprano Natalie Dessay and the soundtrack is awesome. There is a joke, I do not know whether intentional or not, when Horstmayer tells Audebert that he is not married with a German wife (in 2005, Canet was married with the German Diane Krüger). My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): "Feliz Natal" ("Happy Christmas")
"Joyeux Noël" is a dramatization with fictional characters and situations of a true event of a Christmas' miracle and insanities of war. The story is extremely beautiful and recalls one of those masterpieces of Frank Capra, with a magnificent anti-war message, and I have included this wonderful and remarkable movie in my list of favorites ever. This is the first film that I see from director and writer Christian Carion, and I was really impressed with this classy and very well acted production. The wonderful Diane Krüger deserved a nomination to the Oscar for her brilliant top-notch performance in the role of Anna Sorensen; and she is perfectly dubbed by the French soprano Natalie Dessay and the soundtrack is awesome. There is a joke, I do not know whether intentional or not, when Horstmayer tells Audebert that he is not married with a German wife (in 2005, Canet was married with the German Diane Krüger). My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): "Feliz Natal" ("Happy Christmas")