Director: Christian Carion
Cast: Line Renaud, Dany Boon,
Alice Isaaz, Jérémie Laheurte,
Gwendoline Hamon, Julie Delarme, Thomas Alden, Hadriel Roure
Rating: (M) ★★★+
REVIEWED BY JEREMY QUINN
Described in the promotional materials as a cheerful heart-warmer about the power of the kindness of strangers, the premise of Driving Madeleine (Rialto) seems like it was specifically tailor-made to bring out the cynic in me, or at least bring to mind an early Simpsons episode that parodied this type of feel-good nonsense.
As always though, I’m happy to be proven wrong, and if this sometimes feels like a rather contrived and predictable concoction, it’s also inherently likeable and unexpectedly moving, both a testament to its two lead actors but also to a script that isn’t afraid to go to some surprisingly dark places.
Charles (Dany Boon) is a 46-year-old Parisian taxi driver going through the motions in life, working long hours day in, day out, yet still barely able to support his family or get ahead in any meaningful way.
He reluctantly accepts a booking on the other side of the city, and soon finds himself saddled with a cranky yet talkative 92-year-old passenger named Madeleine (Line Renaud), who is on her way to a care facility after a recent fall has left her unable to stay in her home.
As the day goes on, and the two drive through a very photogenic, modern Paris, she begins to tell him about her eventful life, filled with romance and tragedy and rendered in stylised, melodramatic flashbacks lifted straight from the Hollywood playbook.
If I was a teary mess by the end of it, I certainly wouldn’t say so.
