The film opens on a teenage student eager to pass his driving test. Ben Kingsley sits shot gun as the young man’s patient instructor, giving him words of wisdom for long after his license arrives. By night, Kingsley operates a yellow cab in Manhattan which would otherwise (in real life) represent the oxymoron of patience.
That night in his taxi, a couple flags him down. He pulls over. In hops an arguing wife, Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) whose just learned that her husband, Ted (Jake Weber) is leaving her. Apparently they’ve been married 21 years but the 7 year itch has happened three times. Nothing is sacred in the back of a cab, except perhaps a book she accidentally leaves on the backseat.
Kingsley feels responsible to return it and a friendship and a new driving student ensue (thus the title of the film “Learning to Drive.”) But Learning to Drive is really about learning to live. It’s the road map of life and how the unexpected path can take us on a new journey.
Kingsley teaches Clarkson to avoid ‘road rage’ and she teaches him how spoiled Americans can be, but also how women can feel…something his Indian culture is not accustomed to in his arranged marriage. He lives in political asylum in America.
Certainly an original premise, Clarkson is a book critic who chose her career because she loves words…books floated her away during her own parents’ divorce. Clarkson’s daughter is played by Grace Gummer (Meryl Streep’s real life daughter) most recently starring opposite her real life mother in Ricki and the Flash.
In the GPS of life, there are no rules, but navigate from a place of love and honesty will pass the test everytime. ♕ ♚ ♛ 1/ 2