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How entertaining? ★★★★★
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 1 January 2015
This article is a review of LEARNING TO DRIVE.Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014. (For more information, click here.)
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“You can let go the death grip now,” Darwan (Ben Kingsley) to Wendy (Patricia Clarkson)
What is the key to a satisfying romantic-comedy/drama? Surely, beyond the chemistry between the leads, which of course must be a given, is that there is no guarantee of the protagonists ending up together. From HIS GIRL TO FRIDAY and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY to ONCE and 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, they rise above the crowd delivering the same old by staying in the mind. What does it say about me that finds a downer an upper? Stay with me, there is logic. How many blissful couples do you know? Perfect, uncomplicated happiness in mainstream cinema creates unachievable wish fulfilment. By showing that another person cannot complete you, but still have a positive impact, is realistic and reassuring.
What is the key to a satisfying romantic-comedy/drama? Surely, beyond the chemistry between the leads, which of course must be a given, is that there is no guarantee of the protagonists ending up together. From HIS GIRL TO FRIDAY and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY to ONCE and 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, they rise above the crowd delivering the same old by staying in the mind. What does it say about me that finds a downer an upper? Stay with me, there is logic. How many blissful couples do you know? Perfect, uncomplicated happiness in mainstream cinema creates unachievable wish fulfilment. By showing that another person cannot complete you, but still have a positive impact, is realistic and reassuring.
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Anyone who has seen director Isabel Coixet’s MY LIFE WITHOUT ME or ELEGY will be aware that she is not a filmmaker interested in trite platitudes. Reuniting with stars of the latter, Kingsley and Clarkson, acting pedigree is already in her corner. Add in Sarah Kernochan’s winsome script, and there is a creative team appearing to exude confidence in their material.
Contentment sundered suddenly, Wendy Shields (Clarkson), New York book critic, is told by husband Ted (Jake Weber) that he wants a divorce. Baffled at out of the blue spousal dissatisfaction, her heart breaks. This is Clarkson after all, and the first four stages of grief, denial-anger-bargaining-depression, are adroitly co-mingled. Now single and requiring self-sufficiency, a driving licence is needed to visit daughter Natasha (Grace Gummer) – someone at first lacking empathy and eventually karmically getting schooled in romantic travails, in a compounding minor subplot. Twenty-one years of marriage is not easy to get over. Luckily, LEARNING TO DRIVE does not require an exacting of rom-com revenge.
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Taxi driver at night, driving instructor by day, Darwan’s hard-working credentials are quickly established. Ted breaks the news to Wendy in a public place to avoid a scene. Charming. On the way home in a cab, Darwan so happens to be driving, Wendy inadvertently leaves an envelope in the car. Darwan diligently returns it, this time in his driving instructor vehicle; giving Wendy the impetus to take lessons. A friendship blossoms across cultures. As his sister arranges Darwan’s marriage, to Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury), unfortunately, is when he starts to have feelings for his student. Kingsley channels Morgan Freeman-esque nobility.
Very funny and romantic, perfectly played by the leads, with pathos, and short shrift scripting, the genre needs more of these.
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