Learning to Drive

Wendy, a literary critic in Manhattan, has her life upended when her husband leaves her after more than twenty years of marriage. Having relied on him to drive her everywhere, she decides to take driving lessons so she can visit her daughter, who lives outside the city. Her instructor is Darwan, a Sikh man and Indian political refugee whose own personal life is in flux. Over the course of their lessons, the two very different people form an unexpected connection and help each other move forward.

The film was directed by Isabel Coixet, arriving in 2014 after her earlier features My Life Without Me, Paris Je T'aime and Elegy, and before Endless Night and The Bookshop. Sarah Kernochan wrote the screenplay, and Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley lead the cast as Wendy and Darwan, with Jake Weber, Sarita Choudhury, Grace Gummer and Avi Nash in supporting roles.

A British and American co-production, the film was released in August 2014 and runs 105 minutes. It is a comedy-drama that drew modest audiences, with a worldwide box office of around 3 million dollars. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.4 from roughly 8,600 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 6.2 from about 212 votes.