Driving Madeleine

Grumpy taxi driver drives warm, chatty ninety-two year old through simmering Paris in life-affirming film.

Taxi driver Charles (comedian Dany Boon) is having a bad day. His marriage is in tatters and debt looms over him. He is also at risk of losing his driver’s license due to too many traffic violations. His next client is an elderly, elegant woman named Madeleine (singer Line Renaud). She is moving into a nursing home on the other side of Paris and would like to make a few stops along the way. At first, Charles is annoyed but gradually becomes taken by the charming lady and her, to say the least, astonishing life stories. Along the avenues of memories, a seemingly simple taxi journey develops into a transformative reflection on life’s many bumps.

• The screening on February 4 will be followed by a dialog between the actress Anna Bjelkerud, director Suzanne Osten, and Ingmar Skoog, chief physician and Director of the Centre for Ageing and Health (AgeCap) at the University of Gothenburg. The discussion topic is socializing and collaborating over generational divides and portraying younger and older people together on film.

• Niclas Goldberg