Driving Lessons - Plot

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Ben Marshall is the sensitive, poetry-writing son of complacent and emasculated Robert, a vicar obsessed with ornithology, and domineering overbearing mother Laura, whose strong religious beliefs lead her to perform numerous charitable acts while ignoring the emotional needs of her own family, such as forcing Ben to deliver meals on wheels despite his having no car. Her faith does not, however, hinder her from engaging in an affair with Peter, a young curate portraying Jesus Christ in the church pageant she is directing.

Notably Laura's religious side appears to be completely invented to simply bully her husband and son. Amongst Laura's many random and meanspirited rulings she refuses to allow Ben to have a mobile phone (they cause cancer), refuses to allow him go hang around with people his own age and uses his driving lessons as a way to be ferried around for her affair with Peter, who appears unrepentant for sleeping with his mentor's wife. Miserable in his life, Ben writes poems for a girl he knows from church named Sarah. He decides to read his most recent "Sarah Poem" to her aloud, only to result in him being rebuked by Sarah. Before Sarah walks off in embassment, she tells him that he's "just too weird".

Seeking summer employment, at his mother's urging, so that she pay for the upkeep of a mental patient named Mr. Fincham she has adopted, Ben responds to an ad placed by Dame Evie Walton, an alcoholic, classically-trained actress who was reduced to accepting a role on a daytime soap opera when her once flourishing career began to fade and hasn't worked since the series ended, to her annoyance. In search of a companion to assist her in the house and drive her to various appointments, Evie immediately takes to Ben and offers him the position.

Ben's conservative upbringing hasn't prepared him for the adventures he begins to experience with his new employer. When Laura refuses to allow Ben to take a camping trip with Evie, she suggests they take a drive in the country instead, then "swallows" the car key when they find an idyllic spot for setting up a campsite. The following morning she announces she needs Ben to drive her to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where she has been invited to read poetry. Their road trip proves to be an epiphany for Ben, who has his first sexual experience with Bryony, one of the young women organising the event; learns the importance of accepting responsibility and honouring commitments; and finds the inner strength to stand up for himself and speak his mind.

Upon returning from the trip, Laura interrogates Ben as she labels Evie as "Wicked" and believes she has "corrupted" him. However when Evie comes to visit, she is rebuffed by Laura. Ben discovers this and in a fit of rebellion walks offstage in the pageant and goes for a bike ride over to Evie's house where the two friends reconcile.

Later Evie turns up at the Pageant and "portraying" the part of God manages to whip everyone up into a religious frenzy, allowing Ben to join her in the car park. Laura chases the pair and tries to weaponise the Bible once more, however Ben finally tells her to go away, seconds later Laura is run over by Mr. Fincham, whose mental state has steadily declined throughout the film. When Ben visits her at hospital she tells him her near death experience has made her a prophet and that god says she must have a divorce so that she can run off with Peter, whom the Bishop has fired; with him taking Laura to Cornwall to convalescence.

Angered at her lack of concern for either him or his father Ben storms off, on his way out of the hospital he runs into Sarah who aimlessly prattles in a condescending tone on about how the affair was god's will, finally pushed beyond endurance Ben tells Sarah to "fuck off" which shocks her. Later, following Evie's advice, Ben buys himself a tent and moves into the backyard as a way to "get away from it all". When Robert speaks to him Ben shouts at him, telling him that he and not Laura should have asked for divorce, which is when we learn that it was indeed him. Startled, Ben listens to Robert explain about how much he loved his wife and tried to be faithful even when she was not. Finally free from Laura's brand of Christian fanaticism, Ben and his father express their love to one another.

Later Ben visits Evie to tell her he is moving to Edinburgh to attend University to study English. Evie is pleased for Ben and a little saddened that Ben shall no longer be working for her. Ben reads Evie a last poem expressing his gratitude for her friendship, promises to visit whenever he's home from college and heads off.

The final scene of the film shows Ben, finally free, walking through the park on his way home to start packing for Edinburgh.