Mr Bean and M. Hulot

Well, the comedy that has made Mr Bean popular around the world doesn't
　　quite work on the radio, since the main character – Mr Bean - doesn't actually
　　say anything. It is what we call visual comedy – jokes that you watch, rather
　　than listen to.
　　This month sees the release of a new Mr Bean film, Mr Bean's Holiday.  It's
　　been a long time since the first Mr Bean film – ten years! But it's been over
　　fifty years since a film with a very similar name emerged from France – Mr.
　　Hulot's Holiday, or to give it its French title, Les Vacances de M. Hulot.
　　We're going to listen to part of an interview with the creator of Mr Bean,
　　Rowan Atkinson. He describes his reaction to seeing M. Hulot when he was
　　seventeen… and he uses two really great descriptive expressions. See if you
　　can catch them:
　　R. Atkinson:  Les Vacances de M. Hulot, I remember, I remember watching when I was
　　seventeen at school and it was a, it was an eye-opening and jaw-dropping
　　experience for me.
　　William:  It was a what…?
　　R. Atkinson:  Les Vacances de M. Hulot, I remember, I remember watching when I was
　　seventeen at school and it was a, it was an eye-opening and jaw-dropping
　　experience for me.
　　William:    An eye-opening and jaw-dropping experience – do you have the image of
　　someone's eyes opening really really wide? Or the lower part of their mouth –
　　their jaw – dropping to the floor? Good! Now think about what might cause
　　this kind of reaction and you'll get an idea of the meaning of these phrases. If
　　something is eye-opening, it makes you think in a new way or opens you to
　　very different experiences. For example, if you travel to another country, that
　　can be an eye-opening experience. We can use this image in a number of ways
　　– for example, 'I went to see an interesting exhibition yesterday; it really
　　opened my eyes to some new things'. Or you might say, 'It was a real eye-opener'.
　　If something is jaw-dropping, it is astonishing or amazing. For example, you
　　might say, 'The Great Wall of China is jaw-dropping'. Or you could say, 'Mt.
　　Kilimanjaro is jaw-droppingly beautiful'.
　　STING
　　William:  So Mr. Hulot's Holiday was an eye-opener for Rowan Atkinson. In the next
　　clip, Atkinson describes what he found so astonishing about the film, which
　　starred and was directed by Jacques Tati. He contrasts the French film with the
　　Hollywood comedies of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd:
　　R. Atkinson:  I mean the very nature of the traditional silent comics in Hollywood – the
　　Chaplins and the Keatons and Harold Lloyd and people – is that what they did
　　was, you know, it was not just visual but physical, you know, lots of stunts and
　　falling over and dancing and… and what I liked about what Jacques Tati did, it
　　just had a slower, sort of more European flavour and tone and pace to it.
　　William:    He said that American comedies were very physical, with lots of stunts and
　　falling over. Physical means, to do with the body, so the Hollywood comics
　　did things with their bodies to make people laugh, like falling over. Jacques
　　Tati, being a European, had a different style. I like the three words that
　　Atkinson uses to contrast M. Hulot from the American films.