Driving Madeleine movie: The hidden stories of Paris

Paris has a special place in many people’s hearts but its soul is like that of any modern person – it has its ups and downs.

Driving Madeleine is in cinemas now. Picture: Pathe/Hirondelle/TF1/Artemis

Movie magic allows enterprising directors to pull off many neat tricks.

Like, set a driving movie throughout Paris but never step on the accelerator on a Parisian street. Madeleine is being driven in Driving Madeleine, but it happened in a studio.

The French movie stars Line Renaud and Dany Boon, and it features a day-long ride between a taxi driver, Charles, and his passenger, Madeleine. Over the course of the drive, Charles will learn much about Madeleine’s life, as will the audience.

And you won’t cotton on that they weren’t really on the ground.

“The only very important thing, I said to my crew, was I’m not going to shoot in a real taxi in Paris, because it would be a nightmare,” Christian Carion, the director, said. “Paris is a nightmare by driving. Walking is dangerous but driving is impossible.

“So we shot it in a studio.”

Carion explained he and his crew spent two months before principal photography roaming the streets of Paris, shooting morning, after and night and for the footage that would be stitched up to replay on the big 4K screens erected in a studio, around the car.

Part of that choice was to accommodate Renaud, a legend of French cinema and stage who was 93 years old at the time of filming. Renaud would film every afternoon with Boon, while the mornings were spent shooting the flashback scenes with younger actors.

Driving Madeleine starts Line Renaud. Picture: Pathe/Hirondelle/TF1/Artemis

Renaud was already attached to the film when Carion came on board. It was Carion’s idea to cast Boon, and it worked out well because Boon, after a series of comedies, was looking for something different. And he already knew Renaud.

“He always said, ‘This is my mum, so yes, I want to do it because something very emotional and intense will happen because we know each other’,” Carion continued. “And it was much more than I expected. I was really surprised and happy to see the way they talk and play together.”

The chemistry between Renaud and Boon is crucial in Driving Madeleine. Boon’s character, Charles, is originally frustrated at Madeleine’s tardiness and insistence on a series of detours on the way to the destination.

But as she starts to tell the story of her life, he’s seduced into her orbit, as is the audience. As Charles starts to realise what an extraordinary woman this passenger is, so do we.

For Carion, the project came along at the right time. “I was very moved, especially as two years before, I had lost my own mum,” he said. “And reading this, so many personal things came up. I was afraid of that.

“But then I said, ‘No, I won’t make this movie for myself, I will make this movie for everyone else’. I discovered that talking about my sorrow was maybe the best way. Everyone has a grandpa, grandma, or parent you maybe think you didn’t spend enough time with.”

Christian Carion on set with Dany Boon. Picture: Pathe/Hirondelle/TF1/Artemis

And woven throughout the film is the story of Paris itself, a vibrant city with tales in every corner. Madeleine’s story, in some ways, reflects the changes and challenges Paris has gone through. And the scenes that are set outside of the car, among the Parisians, also reflect the frustrations we have bumped up against so many people.

The city and the audience, like Charles, have to learn to find the hidden stories to appreciate the spectrum of our experiences. The good and the bad.

Carion actually lives in Lyon, and he has a love-hate relationship with Paris but perhaps that’s why the city comes across the way it does in Driving Madeleine, as a textured and multidimensional metropolis.

“Paris, I love and hate,” he said. “I love it at night, I hate it during the day. But this is a beautiful city for sure. Full of history and full of centuries of human stories.

“Now there are too many people, but that’s like everywhere. We don’t have a solution right now on how to live quietly in this city. What I love in the movie, I hope you feel it, is a mix of this. [Charles] is against everyone, even himself.

“So, he hates Paris. But if you spend the time and take pleasure in watching Paris with the music of Dinah Washington, that makes me happy. I hope it will be the same for the audience.”

Driving Madeleine is in cinemas now

The writer travelled to Paris as a guest of Unifrance