Some might castigate its unabashed sentimentality, but I found myself moved, especially when I recalled that this was supposedly the war to end all wars.
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11/27/07
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Joyeux Noël (2006)
84
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:21
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: The poignant humanity on display in Joyeux Noel makes its sentimentality forgivable.
Theatrical Release:Mar 3, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $913,127
Synopsis: Set in 1914 amid the muddy trenches and flying shrapnel of World War I, JOYEUX NOEL is a touching tale of an unlikely, if fleeting, reconciliation amid battle. French director Christian Carion... [More]
Starring: Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann, Guillaume Canet, Lucas Belvaux
Director: Christian Carion
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Reviews for Joyeux Noël
Top CriticWell-photographed and acted, Joyeux Noël suffers most from the inevitable comparison with its betters, such films as Paths of Glory or All Quiet on the Western Front.
06/22/06
Top CriticIts noble intentions do not negate its lumpy ordinariness.
03/31/06
Top CriticA poignant and rousing carol for peace.
03/30/06
Top CriticLovely and moving.
03/30/06
Top CriticThe film ends with a moving and surprisingly sophisticated meditation on the definition of moral duty.
03/23/06
Top CriticThe story's factual weight compensates for the film's schmaltzy telling. We might grimace at some of the movie's machinations, but it's hard not to be moved by the humanity it depicts.
03/23/06
Top CriticA beautifully lensed and acted European co-production that blends historical fact with sentimental drama to forge a powerful anti-war statement.
03/17/06
Top CriticIt makes for a fascinating exploration of the human experience.
03/14/06
Top CriticCarion has given it exactly the qualities that often appeal most strongly to moviemakers and humanists: social breadth, warmth, humor, sympathetic characters and a passionate sense of justice.
03/11/06
Top Critic[Images of WWI are] terrible, but shadowy and distant, and it takes an extraordinary film on the order of Joyeux Noel to make it all suddenly vital, immediate and human.
03/10/06
Top CriticAn elegantly crafted drama that derives its eerie, ethereal mood as much from the sounds of war -- and their absence -- as the sights of combat.
03/10/06
Top CriticIt's hard not to admire the film's sense of nobility. It's harder not to find the movie dull.
03/10/06
Top CriticJoyeux Noel has its share of bloodshed, but the movie is about a respite from carnage.
03/09/06
Top CriticWriter/Director Christian Carion wrings every drop of emotion possible from these tales, and he delivers a film so corny that at times it might have given Frank Capra pause. But you know what? It worked on me.
03/06/06
Top CriticThe message is powerful with storytelling to match.
03/03/06
Top CriticIt tells an evocative story that withstands the sentimentality of the film-making.
03/03/06
Top CriticThe true story here is so astonishing that there was no need for the film to resort to obvious dialogue (the characters keep spelling out what we have just seen) or heavy-handed characters.
03/03/06
Top CriticYou can't go wrong with an uplifting, anti-war story like this, but director Christian Carion trowels on the schmaltz.
03/03/06
Top CriticThis glossy French antiwar movie, an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film, tells the true story of an improvised Christmas truce during the first year of World War I.
03/02/06
Top CriticLatest News for Joyeux Noël
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Based on the popular RPG game -- and now packing a few new cast members. "The Mutant Chronicles" has added Stephen Rea, Ron Perlman, and Benno Furmann to its ranks;... More...
January 31, 2006:
2005 Oscar Nominations Are In!
Like most pathetic movie geeks, I was up at the crack of dawn (ok, 8:30am eastern time) to see how my nomination prediction ballot would measure up. (I was perfect on all 20... More...
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