The film is based on a historically accurate, if short-lived, truce that allowed a small group of men fighting on both sides of the conflict to cast down their weapons and celebrate Christmas in peace. It is said to have been initiated by German soldiers and is considered the last act of military chivalry among warring Western nations before the dawn of modern combat

The men shared food, sang carols and played soccer in a truce that also allowed the enemies to gather and bury their dead. The soldiers who participated were eventually punished by their superiors, a detail that is not left out of the film.

"Joyeux Noel" stars German actors Diane Kruger ("Troy," "Wicker Park") and Benno Fuermann as a world-class opera singers Anna Sorensen and Nikolaus Sprink. They are joined by French actor Guillaume Canet playing a French lieutenant and British actor Gary Lewis, who stars as an Anglican priest who blesses the soldiers’ meals. German actor Daniel Bruhl, who rose to fame with "Goodbye, Lenin!," plays a young German soldier.

The characters Anna and Nikolaus are essential to the film’s fictionalized plot since they provide romance and a Hollywood story to what might have otherwise been little more than a heartwarming tale of the way things were. She arranges to sing a performance of Ave Maria at the front lines at Christmas, hoping to convince her lover to desert with her to a neutral country.

Despite "Joyeux Noel’s" lapses into melodrama, critics have been generally receptive to the film, saying that its overt sentimentality is balanced out by its historical accuracy. It has been praised for its utter lack of political aspirations and for leaving audiences with an exuberant faith in hope and humanity.

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