“Driving Madeleine” a powerful journey
Directed and co-written by Christian Carion (“Joyeux Noel”), “Driving Madeleine” is going to remind some viewers of the terrific 2013 Steve CooganJudi Dench drama “Philomena.” But the truth is that the tradition of films about old people on both a real journey and a journey into the past goes farther back. Ingmar Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” (1957) might be one of the earliest (and still the best).
In “Driving Madeleine,” a beleaguered, raw-nerved Paris taxi driver named Charles Hoffman ( Dany Boon) picks up a 92-year-old woman named Madeleine Keller ( French chanteuse Line Renaud). Madeleine is leaving her home, where she lived alone, to move to a nursing home on the other side of Paris. Charles is having some sort of financial troubles. Charles has assured his wife that “they will get through this.” We are not sure what “this” is.
Madeleine, who has a flirtatious manner in spite of her age, wants grumpy Charles to take her to her old neighborhood in Vincennes for a last look. He hesitantly agrees. Soon, Madeleine begins to share her life story with her new acquaintance.
Accompanied by flashbacks in which Alice Isaaz plays Madeleine, we hear about Madeleine’s first love. He was a U.S. soldier named Matt, and they had a threemonth affair at the end of the war. He left, leaving
her accidentally pregnant and alone, except for her mother, a dresser at a Paris theater. We also learn that Madeleine’s father was executed by the Nazis. When her son is still a boy, Madeleine marries a brute named Ray (Jeremie Laheurte), who beats her and her son until she takes matters into her own hands and becomes an early feminist figure in postwar France. In the course of learning all of this, we see Paris through the windows of Charles’ taxi
from the Champs Elysee to the Avenue Parmentier.
Boon has directed and co-starred with Renaud in other films, including the 2008 comedy “Welcome to the Sticks” aka “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis,” the highest grossing French film of all time. They have chemistry and a strong connection. Charles laments that he works 12 hours a day, six days a week and still has a hard time providing for his wife and daughter.
Director Carion displays a capable hand, although he and co-writer Cyril Gely (“Chocolat”) go overboard in terms of Madeleine’s revenge against Ray, perhaps driven by the symbolism of it. Being in the company of Boon, Renaud and Paris for 91 minutes turns out to be a great pleasure (bring a hankie). Drive on, Charles.