Synopsis

On Christmas Eve 1914. A battlefield in the middle of World War I. Father Palmer from the British army tries to lift spirits by playing the bagpipe. His music is answered by Sprink, whose beautiful voice soon soars in reply from the German side. The French army finds itself unable to resist the peaceful atmosphere brought on by the music and as a result, the three nations agree on a truce for Christmas. They soon become friends, sharing food and wine and hailing each other ‘Merry Christmas’ across the front lines. Father Palmer says a mass for all and Anna, Sprink''s lover, plaits her voice into the stately hymns. Now, enemies have become friends and the idea of pointing guns at one another seems nearly impossible. What will be the choice, fatherland or friends? < Merry Christmas> is loosely based on ''Battles of Flanders and Artois 1914-1918'', a novel by Yves Buffetaut -- a novel which the filmmaker Christian Carion had always been interested in portraying, even before his first feature < The Girl from Paris>. The film focuses on the real-life Christmas miracle of 1914, with fictional touches. Premiered at the non-competition section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, < Merry Christmas> garnered enthusiastic responses from audiences by delivering the message of peace. Depicting heartwarming humanism and friendship flowering in the most brutal of surroundings, the film asserts the power of music by showing the brief peace that was accomplished by a single Christmas carol.

감독

크리스티앙 카리옹

1963년 프랑스 북부지역 출신인 그는 첫 장편 데뷔작으로 파리에서 시골로 이사한 30대 여자에 대한 코미디 <파리에서 온 소녀>(1997)를 연출했다. 이 영화의 성공에 힘입어 그는 이전에 눈여겨 읽었던 책 <플랑드르와 아르투아 전투>에서 영감을 얻은 전쟁영화에 착수할 수 있게 되었고, 결국 독일, 영국, 프랑스의 방대한 양의 전쟁 관련 자료들을 뒤지며 수년에 걸친 프로젝트 <메리 크리스마스>를 완성한다.