Having to go live in a retirement home to end her days there, a 92-year-old lady, wishing to see for the last time the places that have counted in her life, asks the taxi driver who takes her to her new residence to do many detours.
The scenario ofA great race was written specifically for Line Renaud. Now aged 94, the famous actress also claims that this production by Christian Carion is her “testament film”. An undeniable mirror effect is immediately established between the protagonist of this story and the actress who embodies her. Although they did not necessarily undergo the same trials, they nevertheless went through the same periods to arrive at this last stage of their lives.
If the construction ofA great race is nothing new – how many films have already borrowed the context of a taxi ride? –, it remains that this one stands out mainly thanks to the presence of Line Renaud. The latter is firing on all cylinders, handling with humor and without pathos the story of Madeleine, a woman whose life was marked by certain more tragic episodes.
By illustrating these episodes from the past with many flashbacks (Alice Isaaz then plays Madeleine), Christian Carion is however a bit too heavy and falls into grandiloquent melodramatic effects. In other words, his film works magnificently as soon as we stick to the lady of today, whose face already tells all of a life, but loses its momentum when it takes us into another temporal reality. As if the filmmaker was trying to provoke emotion too much by giving in to one-upmanship.
However, we will be grateful to Christian Carion for having been able to offer Line Renaud such a beautiful score. The obvious complicity that the actress shares with Dany Boon, her true friend in life, is also beautiful to see. The latter, mainly listening, offers a composition that is both sober and touching in the role of the driver who, despite his reluctance at the start, gradually lets himself be charmed by the story of this lady. As we all.
Indoors
Drama
A great race
Christian Carion
With Line Renaud, Dany Boon, Alice Isaaz
1:31 a.m.