Driving Madeleine

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Une belle course
(Driving Madeleine)
Une-belle-course.jpg
French Une belle course
Directed by Christian Carion
Written by
  • Christian Carion
  • Cyril Gély
Produced by
  • Christian Carion
  • Laure Irrmann
Starring
Cinematography Pierre Cottereau
Edited byLoïc Lallemand
Music by Philippe Rombi
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Pathé (France)
  • Alternative Films (Belgium)
Release dates
  • 23 August 2022 (2022-08-23)(FFA)
  • 21 September 2022 (2022-09-21)(France)
Running time
91 minutes
Countries
  • France
  • Belgium
LanguageFrench
Box office$5.5 million [1]

Une belle course is a 2022 French-Belgian drama film directed by Christian Carion. [2] The film was released in English-speaking countries with the title Driving Madeleine, [3] [4] [5] a reference to the 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy .

Contents

Synopsis

Charles Hauffman, a Paris taxi driver with a wife and daughter, is in debt and on the verge of losing his business licence. He receives a message to collect a client, the 92-year-old Madeleine Keller, to transport her from Bry-sur-Marne to a retirement home in Courbevoie, with instructions to begin the meter reading immediately, even before his arrival at Bry-sur-Marne. Madeleine requests that Charles drive around Paris to various locations that have been important in her life, instead of driving directly to the retirement home.

From World War II, Madeleine recalls her affair with an American soldier, which resulted in the birth of her out-of-wedlock son Mathieu. Madeleine later married Raymond (Ray) Haguenot, who subsequently exhibits violent and abusive behavior towards Madeleine and Mathieu. Madeleine is legally unable to obtain a divorce on grounds of domestic abuse. Unable to withstand Ray's behaviour any further, she takes violent retaliatory action that maims him, which leads to a criminal trial and extended imprisonment for Madeleine. However, her trial becomes a cause célèbre for women's marital rights. Madeleine serves her prison sentence and reunites with her grown son, who has become a photojournalist. He tells his mother that he resented her absence and the difficulties of growing up as the son of Madeleine Keller.

Various incidents during the cab ride include disruption of traffic so that Madeleine can use the toilet at a restaurant, and a traffic violation by Charles from which Madeleine helps to extricate him so that he does not lose his business licence. Madeleine further recalls other events in her life that relate to the May 68 demonstrations and to the Vietnam War. The two visit landmarks such as a memorial to Parisians deported during World War II, and also share dinner, before they eventually arrive at the retirement home. Moved and engrossed by Madeleine's story, Charles neglects to collect his fare. Soon afterwards, Madeleine's barrister brings Charles a final communication from Madeleine.

Cast

Production

The film entered production in mid-2021, including location work in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in Val-de-Marne [6] and La Plaine Saint-Denis. [7] Filming was completed in July 2021. [8] At the suggestion of cinematographer Pierre Cottereau, immersive 4K LCD screens were used to film footage of Paris separately from the principal actors. [9] Subsequently, the production team filmed the driving scenes with the principal actors in a stationary car, with 4-meter by 3-meter ultra-HD panels surrounding them and with the separately filmed location footage projected on to the panels. Whilst a limited amount of footage made directly in Paris with the principal actors took place, the use of the immersive 4K LCD technology reduced the need for film footage made directly on location. [10]

Release

The film premiered on 23 August 2022 at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival. [11] It was also screened as a special presentation at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, [12] before going into commercial release on 21 September. The film was released theatrically in the United States on 12 January 2024 by Cohen Media Group.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 94% of 52 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.The website's consensus reads: "Fueled by the sparkling chemistry between Line Renaud and Dany Boon, Driving Madeleine proves a sweetly sentimental drama that deftly tugs the heartstrings." [13] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [14]

Renaud won the Tiantan Award for Best Actress at the 2023 Beijing International Film Festival, [15] where the film was one of the 15 shortlisted films competing for the festival's 10 Tiantan Awards. [16] [17] Driving Madeleine was nominated for the Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film at the 47th Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony. [18] [19] [20]

Remake

Driving Madeleine was remade in Japan by Shochiku as Tokyo Taxi , directed by Yoji Yamada and starring Chieko Baisho and Takuya Kimura, which is scheduled to be released on 21 November 2025. [21]

References

  1. ↑ "Driving Madeleine (2022)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  2. ↑ "Line Renaud et Dany Boon à nouveau réunis dans un film qui sortira en septembre". La Voix du Nord . 20 June 2022. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  3. ↑ Phil Hoad (13 November 2023). "Driving Madeleine review – hankies at the ready as a life is told in flashback". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  4. ↑ Glenn Kenny (12 January 2024). "Review: Driving Madeleine". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  5. ↑ Beatrice Loayza (11 January 2024). "'Driving Madeleine' Review: A Nonagenarian in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  6. ↑ David Leduc (30 June 2021). "Cinéma. Dany Boon en tournage à Saint-Maur-des-Fossés". Actu Val-de-Marne. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  7. ↑ Stéphane Boudsocq (22 June 2021). "Reportage exclusif sur le tournage du prochain film de Christian Carion, "Une belle course", qui réunit Line Renaud et Dany Boon". RTL. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  8. ↑ "Soirée de fin de tournage du film "Une belle course" et anniversaire surprise de Line Renaud (93 ans) sur la péniche Excellence à Paris, France, le 3 juillet 2021". Purepeople. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  9. ↑ "« Une belle course » au mur de LED". TSF. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  10. ↑ Brigitte Baronnet (22 September 2022). "Une belle course avec Dany Boon: comment tourner à Paris sans embouteillages?". Allociné. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  11. ↑ Baronnet, Brigitte (6 July 2022). "Festival Angoulême 2022 : Dany Boon et Line Renaud en ouverture et plus de 50 films francophones à découvrir". AlloCiné . Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  12. ↑ Kay, Jeremy (28 July 2022). "Stephen Frears, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence films among Toronto galas, special presentations". Screen Daily . Archived from the original on 28 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "Driving Madeleine". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 22 October 2025. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  14. ↑ "Driving Madeleine". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
  15. ↑ Frater, Patrick (1 May 2023). "The Punishment Wins Beijing Film Festival's Top Award, as Shadowless Tower Takes Five Prizes – Global Bulletin". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Fan, Xu (29 April 2023). "Beijing film festival announced Tiantan Award winners". China Daily . Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  17. ↑ Rui, Zhang (11 April 2023). "Beijing International Film Festival reveals jury lineup". China Internet Information Center . Archived from the original on 21 July 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  18. ↑ Barsanti, Sam (10 March 2024). "Godzilla Minus One crushed everybody at the Japanese Academy Awards". AV Club . Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  19. ↑ Cho, Suzie (12 March 2024). "The 47th Japan Academy Film Prize Announces Winners, Godzilla Minus One wins Eight Awards including Best Picture". Asian Movie Pulse. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  20. ↑ "【日本アカデミー賞】『ゴジラ-1.0』最優秀作品賞含む最多8冠【受賞者・作品一覧】" [[Japan Academy Prize] Godzilla Minus One Won a Total of 8 Awards, Including Best Picture [List of Award Winners and Works]]. Oricon News (in Japanese). 8 March 2024. Archived from the original on 12 March 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  21. ↑ 倍賞千恵子×木村拓哉、実写作品で初共演「カッコ良さ変わらない」「咲き続ける花」【山田洋次監督の最新作「TOKYOタクシー」制作発表】. Eiga.com (in Japanese). 23 January 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
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