Une belle course

Ninety-two-year-old Madeleine (French legend Line Renaud, soon to be 95 years old!), who lives in a Parisian suburb, calls a taxi to take her to the nursing home where she will spend the rest of her days. In no hurry to get to her destination, she asks her driver, Charles (Dany Boon), to detour past places in the French capital that have meant something to her over the many decades, to see them one last time. Along the way, an extraordinary life is slowly revealed and brought vividly to the screen by director Christian Carion, in flashbacks featuring Alice Isaaz as a young Madeleine. Charles is moved more than he could have ever imagined. Some taxi rides can change lives… ‘“Driving Madeleine” [the English title] builds towards a climax that packs a fairly (and unexpectedly) palpable emotional punch and ensures that the whole thing ends on a seriously positive note—with the end result a crowd-pleaser that boasts, at its core, a pair of phenomenal lead performances.’—David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews