Permis d'aimer

Darwan is a very busy man, holding down two jobs, one as a driving instructor, the other as a Taxi driver. One night he picks up Wendy and Ted, a very emotional argument ensues and he leaves her, explaining he doesn't love her anymore. Wendy's daughter Tasha tells her mum she needs to get her life sorted and to accept Ted's decision, and to start driving. After accidentally leaving a parcel in Darwans's taxi he returns in to Wendy, she asks for driving lessons.

Darwan has to put up with so much, the authorities questioning his being in the country, racial abuse from people. Being a devout Sikh his religion makes his life complete, nearly that is, until his wife to be turns up.

I am so glad I watched this film, it is so watchable, and truly enjoyable. It battles fears and overcoming them. It is very heartwarming in parts.

I needn't go too deeply into the performance of Ben Kingsley, fairly biased I know but whatever he does I love him in, he is an outstanding actor, he's great in this, but Patricia Clarkson is just so good, she puts so much into this movie, screen time between the two is magical.

Loved it 9/10 it's just a lovely movie.

This film tells the story of a woman whose husband just dumped her. She meets a taxi driver who also works as a driving instructor. She decides to take driving lessons, and in the meantime they learn to navigate their marital problems.

"Learning To Drive" tells very common life problems, and it provides a very realistic sense of how people deal with these problems. Despite the hardships, the characters cope and the film maintains a sense of optimism and lightheartedness. It is also very refreshing to see Indian actors and culture being prominently portrayed in a film, especially because there is a row over a lack of diversity in the Oscars. I hope more films like this will get made.

I find this movie is surprisingly charming. It's a story we can relate to. Things happened in our everyday lives which might not be significant enough to draw attentions to. However, they touched a bit of our unintended emotions. It even took on lightly challenging subjects like racism, depression, rages and religions which all transpired smoothly into the storyline with some humors even.

The story of middle aged women divorcing from their long time husbands is not a fresh subject after all. Nevertheless, most people probably could even care less of it. However, the success of this movie is it used this overly done subject and given a new lease of life. In the beginning, I was not too sure to watch it. To my own surprise, I am glad that I gave it a shot when I finished it. Lives can serve you bitter dishes, how to turn them around it's entirely up to you. The middle aged romance is no longer involving carnal desires and emotional longing. It steers the directions to work out your own issues and hold up your end of responsibilities.

Patricia and Ben Kingsley did convincing performances for their roles. This movie reminded me of "Lost in Translations". I think they both share the subtleties of wordless emotions. We don't need thunderbolts and lighting to make memorable films. We need is slowly riveting awareness and self assured triumphs. Maybe I am old.

I went to see this movie tonight and it was entertaining. I can't say that about many movies these days.

I liked the premise of a woman taking driving lessons after her divorce, trying to regain some sense of independence and competence after that emotional blow.

Ben Kingsley, as her Sikh taxi driver teacher, was excellent in his part. He and his student develop a close friendship which is a joy to see.

A friend, who is also a Sikh, went with me, and she said that Kingsley's headdress was not wrapped properly. You'd have thought that the film would have received some input from the Sikh community on these details, but maybe not. Odd.

At any rate, it was charming, with enough laughs and story to sustain it to the end. It has something to teach both women and men.

Somehow we missed this movie when it came out several years ago but now were able to watch it at home on DVD from our public library. It is a very nice story of people from different cultures influencing each other.

Patricia Clarkson is well-known New York literature critic Wendy. One liability of her career is that she takes it a bit too seriously resulting in scant attention to her marriage of 20+ years. So her husband strays and it looks like this time he may be gone for good.

Quite by accident she meets up with Taxi driver Ben Kingsley as political refugee from India, Darwan. But he is also a driving instructor and when returning to her something she left in his cab, gives her his card.

Living in New York and having a husband to do the driving when necessary, Wendy never had learned to drive. Now her 20-ish daughter was moving away so Wendy became motivated, if she could drive she could go visit her.

So much of the movie is Wendy's difficult task of learning to drive in New York, while Darwar has a big issue of his own, relatives back home arranged a marriage for him with a nice Indian woman so he had to meet her at the airport and take her home, then help her get acclimated to American life.

Sarita Choudhury, like Kingsley a British actor, plays the role of Jasleen.

Overall a very entertaining and worthwhile movie.