Mr. Bean's Holiday

The second film, *Mr. Bean's Holiday*, was directed by Steve Bendelack, released in 2007 and followed Bean on an eventful journey across France for a holiday in the French Riviera to which, after a number of mishaps, culminates in an unscheduled screening of his video diary at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, despite an earlier rumour in February 2001 stating that an unused script by Richard Curtis would see him on an Australian misadventure. Production on the film occurred during 2006 and was first released in the United Kingdom on 30 March 2007; it premiered in North America on 17 July that year at the Just for Laughs festival in Canada where the character had been launched 20 years earlier before being released nationwide over a month later on 24 August. The film is notable for featuring a mixture of traditional film photography and home-shot video camera photography. The film garnered improved critical reception (with a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and was also commercially successful, grossing nearly US$230 million globally ($33 million in the United States) against a $25 million budget. *Mr. Bean's Holiday* was originally the last live-action appearance of the character, before reappearing at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony five years later.

## Plot

The film opens with Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) attending a raffle in June. His number is 919, the winning number. But Bean misreads it upside-down as 616 Pissed off that he "lost", he throws the ticket onto a toy train. Seeing the ticket upside down reading 919, he grabs the ticket and yells out that he won in his mumbling deep voice. The prize is a holiday involving a train journey to Cannes, a Sony video camera and €200.

Following a misunderstanding involving a taxi at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris, Bean is forced to make his way unorthodoxly towards the Gare de Lyon to board his next train towards Cannes. As he misses the train whilst getting his tie stuck in a vending machine and the next one won't leave for another hour, he has time to sample French seafood at Le Train Bleu restaurant. Unable to communicate in French, he accidentally orders oysters and langoustines, which he cannot bring himself to eat. His disgust for oysters may be explained from the Mr. Bean in Room 426 episode. He surreptitiously pours the oysters into a nearby lady's handbag, and eats the whole langoustine without taking off the shell in front of everybody.

Back on the platform, Bean asks a man, who happens to be a Cannes Film Festival jury member and Russian movie critic Emil Dachevsky (Karel Roden), to use his camcorder to film his walking onto the train. By the time they are done, the TGV is about to leave. Although Bean manages to get onto the train, the doors close before Dachevsky can get on. Dachevsky's son, Stepan (Max Baldry) is therefore left on board by himself.

Bean attempts to befriend Stepan, with the result that when the boy slaps him in the face and when he gets off at the next station, Bean gets off too and accidentally misses the train, along with his bag aboard. The train that Stepan's father has boarded does not stop at the station, and he holds up a mobile number, but with the last two digits obscured. Their efforts at calling the number prove fruitless even though at one point they do get through to the Dachevskys' hotel room, but the phone is answered by the maid, whose voice Stepan does not recognize. They board the next train, but since Bean has left his ticket and passport on the station public telephone, the duo are soon thrown out of the train.

Attempts at busking by miming to Puccini's O mio babbino caro (sung by Rita Streich) and other music prove successful, and Bean buys them a bus ticket to Cannes. Bean loses his ticket by getting the ticket stuck on a chicken's foot. Mr. Bean then steals a nearby bicycle and follows the chicken which has been placed onto a Peugeot 504 pickup and ends up at a chicken pen. On his return, he finds that the bicycle has been run over by a tank, but the camera is still intact. After attempting to steal a motorcycle and almost getting killed by a lorry, Bean stumbles on to the set for a TV advertisement, which he accidentally blows up, injuring the director Carson Clay (Willem Dafoe).

Bean then tries to hitch-hike again; a yellow Mini picks him up, much like the one he owns back in London, driven by actress Sabine (Emma de Caunes) who Bean encountered both at the commercial filming and previously, who offers him a lift to Cannes. She is on her way to the 59th Cannes Film Festival where Carson Clay's film in which she makes her debut is going to be presented. When they stop at a service station, Bean finds Stepan in a café. He joins them. Bean and Stepan now attempt, again in vain, to call Dachevsky with Sabine's phone. When Sabine falls deeply asleep, Bean then drives the car himself, but he keeps falling asleep. After doing dangerous and painful things to himself to stay awake, Bean and the other two finally make it to Cannes.

When Sabine goes into a petrol station to change for the premiere, she sees a newsflash which the police have made up a story about Mr. Bean kidnapping Stepan and Sabine being his accomplice. However, since she does not want to miss the premiere, she does not to go to the police to clear up the "misunderstanding". They therefore plan to get into Cannes without being identified. Stepan dresses up as Sabine's daughter, while Mr. Bean dresses up as Sabine's mother, who is allegedly Spanish and deaf. They manage to get through the search and Sabine arrives at the premiere on time.

After sneaking into the premiere, Bean is disappointed to see that Sabine's role has been (rather poorly) cut from the film (Carson Clay is seen nodding at the woman beside him at this point, implying that he cut the scene as a favour to his jealous wife), and ends up plugging in his video camera to the projector, where his video diary is unexpectedly played out. However, the strange tale it tells fits director Clay's narration well, so that the director, Sabine, and Bean all receive standing ovations. Stephen is finally reunited with his father. After the screening, Bean leaves the building and goes to the beach, encountering everyone else. The film then ends with everyone in the film miming a large French musical finale, singing the famous song by Charles Trenet, "La Mer" (Beyond the Sea). Following the credits, Bean writes "FIN" in the sand with his foot as the camera battery dies, closing the film.