The story in Joyuex Noel is true. The movie is not.
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03/23/06
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Joyeux Noël (2006)
76
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:90
Fresh:68
Rotten:22
Average Rating:6.7/10
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
The breathtaking, heartbreaking Joyeux Noël picks up where the poets of World War I left off, gleaning a poetic pause of humanity amid the interminable horror of that war.
03/23/06
...maybe the all-around finest Christmas flick I've seen since the original Die Hard.
03/21/06
A 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 CriticThis is a heartbreaking anti-war movie. And for its depiction of a certain innocence and civility in human affairs that is gone forever, Joyeux Noel is just the sort of movie that makes grown men cry. Women, too.
03/17/06
It makes for a fascinating exploration of the human experience.
03/14/06
Top CriticThe scenes of camaraderie among the soldiers are moving, and despite its weaknesses, there is something in Noel that resonates, given our current political climate.
03/14/06
Carion 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 CriticIt is good, especially in these times, to be reminded of the humanity we all share.
03/11/06
[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 CriticThis moving respite is their gesture that humans, face to face, can survive humanly.
03/10/06
An 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 CriticWhen the men unite over common Christmas carols, it feels like a happy ending, but the film goes on with more happy -- and bittersweet -- endings for an hour more.
03/09/06
Weaves a manipulative spell around the concept of universal goodwill.
03/07/06
The film does the incident justice, and then writer/director Christian Carion adds needless embellishments and fictionalizations, I guess because even French movies need to be Hollywoodized.
03/06/06
Writer/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
This is only Carion's second feature (he's an engineer turned filmmaker), but he displays a fine command in juggling a large international cast.
03/03/06
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