Jean-Stéphane Bron
Switzerland | 1999 | 52 min
Language : French
Subtitle : English
Dinh-Chuong Nguyen and Rolande Mollard do not have much in common, apart from a few miles of road shared while the one was teaching the other to drive. Jean-Stéphane Bron builds his second film around five driver-learner duos confined to their driving school cars, the latter thus becoming mobile film studios in which human comedies unfold.
Minimum legal age 7 years, recommended 14 years and over
For his second film, made at the end of the 90s, Jean-Stéphane Bron chooses a change of scenery, or rather of means of transport. He creates a film studio inside a driving school vehicle – a little ahead of his time, since Ten by Abbas Kiarostami would not be released until 2002. The scenario is based around a simple question: what do driving instructors and aspiring drivers talk about, during their hours of driving lessons, especially if they have different nationalities or skin colours? Each instructor has their own style: chatty Jean-Pierre Cherix likes to create a relaxed atmosphere with slightly racist jokes, forgetting that Didier comes from the ‘Indies’ and was adopted. At the other end of the spectrum, Dinh-Chuong Nguyen teaches Rolande – who has failed her test several times – more about Asian wisdom and intercostal breathing exercises, than the rules of the road per se. From cultural shock to misunderstandings, the five duos of La Bonne Conduite reinvent, each in their own way and within the confines of a car, the founding principles of social ties and integration.
Emmanuel Chicon
