Last December I was looking through the Netflix listings for Christmas movies to add to my queue (214 to go!), and ran across this movie that I’d never heard of. Joyeux Noël was just released in 2005 and the reviews were quite positive, so I figured I’d give it a go.
What I got when I sat down with it was nothing like I’d expected. This film is about events that take place at and depend upon Christmastime, but it certainly isn’t a Christmas movie.
The film revolves around events that (“inspired by actual events” grumble grumble) took place during World War I. On Christmas Eve, soldiers from the French, Scottish, and German trenches agree to call a temporary (and extremely unofficial) truce for Christmas. A Christmas Mass is held, bodies are exchanged and buried, and general festivities ensue. Next day, they grudgingly go back to war having vowed not to speak of this to their superiors, which totally works out for everybody involved.
From the very first frame of Joyeux Noël, it is clear that we were going to be taking a good look at the nature of war. The director ( Christian Carion) made the remarkable decision to start the film with a montage of schoolchildren from different countries standing in front of a classroom and reciting wartime rhymes that extol patriotism through the demonization of the enemy. It’s quite effective in pulling us into the reality of the subject.
I also appreciated the fact that Carion had the actors speaking the proper languages instead of everybody speaking English (or French, in his case). Though some folks have problems with subtitled films, the use of English, German, and French allowed there to be an intangible distance between the armies even when they were together on Christmas. This distance was only closed during the Christmas Mass, offered in the Latin that all would know.
The language barrier also provided a wonderful moment when a local cat appeared and it turned out that each camp had given him a different name and was sure he liked them best. It was humorous (and apparently a true story), but it illustrated the unnatural situation they found themselves in.
And the music is wonderful. Music is the form the armies’ first friendly contact happens, with the Scots singing a simple Christmas carol that everyone in all the trenches knows. As the armies realize their mutual celebration, a German tenor, having been drafted into the army at the beginning of the film (and, through some logistical contortions, is able to spend the night with his lover (Diane Krüger, above) in the trenches) rises to sing Silent Night as he crosses the corpse covered battlefield carrying a small Christmas tree.
Later, the sole feminine voice in Joyeux Noël is heard intoning a lovely new Ave Maria (from Philippe Rombi, the film’s composer) at the impromptu Christmas Mass. To say that this piece is beautiful is an understatement. Shivers went up my spine as Natalie Dessay’s voice came from the lips of Diane Krüger (above) as she stood before the congregation of three warring factions. The fact that Krüger knew how to act like she was singing (a skill that most of Hollywood hasn’t learned) only made the moment sweeter.
As much as I enjoyed the film, there were some major problems. The film’s middle section is beautiful. Just wonderful stuff. But the first third or so is a bit clumsy as we’re introduced to a variety of people in different countries with different opinions of the war. There are so many characters to introduce that all of them get a bit shortchanged in the end. The more subtle nuances of each character’s motivation is left for the audience to fill in, and I’m not sure we’re given enough information to do so.
For example, there are two Scottish brothers in the army, the younger taking his lead from the older. When the older brother is killed (in a development that could be seen a mile away) the younger becomes unmoored without his brother’s guidance. And while Carion tries admirably to make us care about this young man’s nervous breakdown, it really isn’t given enough space to warrant it. I think if the number of major characters had been cut back by at least a third, the smaller bits would have had enough room to be more significant.
The greater problem, though, is the last 45 minutes of the movie, during which it becomes a pretty heavy handed anti-war movie. After a while I wanted to ring up Carion (who also wrote the screenplay) and assure him that we all get it. I won’t spoil most of the endings, but some of them came right out of nowhere. One that I took special exception to was that of the Scottish priest.
The idea that he would turn his back on the church, and on God from the looks of it, because his bishop gave a propaganda filled sermon is a bit of a stretch. That it happened literally three minutes after he told the bishop that the Christmas Mass was the most important Mass of his career made it completely unbelievable.
Still, Joyeux Noël is a fair film. If the problems I mentioned above had been addressed even by half I’d be begging my friends to see it. As it is, this is a movie to see once and put away. Some memorable performances were given, most notably (to me) by Daniel Brühl, as German Lieutenant Horstmayer and Guillaume Canet as French Lieutenant Audebert. There was some great work between the two and I look forward to seeing more from them. Even if it is subtitled.
