Discover the art of mime from Marcel Marceau and his character Bip in Pantomime: The Language of the Heart
Discover the art of mime from Marcel Marceau and his character Bip in Pantomime: The Language of the Heart
Marcel Marceau discussing the art of mime and his character Bip in Pantomime: The Language of the Heart, an Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation film directed, produced, and edited by John Barnes, 1975. This film is an introduction to The Art of Silence, a 12-part series by Barnes and featuring Marceau.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
[Music]
[Applause]
MARCEL MARCEAU: Mime is as old as the world. It is the art of expressing situations without words. It reveals men in their deepest feelings and aspirations. Therefore, mime lays in the roots of our time; it has started when man emerged on the earth.
We have chosen for you a selection of 12 classic pantomimes, which will include several pantomimes de style and several pantomimes de Bip. Let me first tell you what pantomimes de style means. Pantomimes de style, or pantomime de style, express with form and style a certain virtuosity with which you can relay to the world through tragic and funny situations.
[Music in]
The pantomimes de style, for instance, illustrate man involved in satire, trials, bureaucracy, or going through life from youth to death. The pantomimes de style also [applause; music out] are exercises where the mime is a brother of clowns, of jugglers, a circus performer on tightropes [laughter], being a painter, or revealing man through the creation of the world [music in], or showing the struggle we have in our life. Good and evil placed face to face.
[Music out]
Pantomimes de Bip is--are, if you want--the adventures of a character called Bip, who is the small cousin or the little brother of Charlie Chaplin at the time of the silent films or a small descendant of the Greek and Roman mimes of the Arlequins of the commedia dell'arte, of Pierrot of the 19th century, the rival of Arlequin. He is a modern character of the 20th century with a top hat [music in] and a trembling flower, a white face.
He is called Bip because I could not call him Pierrot because he's my alter ego and because Pierrot was essentially a character of a [music out] romantic figure of the 19th century. Bip reminds me of Pip. You remember "Great Expectations" by Dickens? The character was called Pip. I call him Bip. You will see the adventures of Bip struggling like Don Quixote against windmills, at odds with the world, and always in battle but with a heart full of poetry and always loving to create laughter through tears.
[Music]
Bip is a character with whom everybody can identify, because the language of mime certainly does not speak through words but through the heart. And, therefore, it is a common denominator for all nations, for all races. There is no laughing or no crying which is English, French, Russian, Japanese. We laugh and cry at the same moment for the same reasons and often in silence. And this is why I'm very happy to be able to present to you some of my most classic pantomimes de style and some of my most classic pantomimes de Bip.
[Music]
[Applause]
MARCEL MARCEAU: Mime is as old as the world. It is the art of expressing situations without words. It reveals men in their deepest feelings and aspirations. Therefore, mime lays in the roots of our time; it has started when man emerged on the earth.
We have chosen for you a selection of 12 classic pantomimes, which will include several pantomimes de style and several pantomimes de Bip. Let me first tell you what pantomimes de style means. Pantomimes de style, or pantomime de style, express with form and style a certain virtuosity with which you can relay to the world through tragic and funny situations.
[Music in]
The pantomimes de style, for instance, illustrate man involved in satire, trials, bureaucracy, or going through life from youth to death. The pantomimes de style also [applause; music out] are exercises where the mime is a brother of clowns, of jugglers, a circus performer on tightropes [laughter], being a painter, or revealing man through the creation of the world [music in], or showing the struggle we have in our life. Good and evil placed face to face.
[Music out]
Pantomimes de Bip is--are, if you want--the adventures of a character called Bip, who is the small cousin or the little brother of Charlie Chaplin at the time of the silent films or a small descendant of the Greek and Roman mimes of the Arlequins of the commedia dell'arte, of Pierrot of the 19th century, the rival of Arlequin. He is a modern character of the 20th century with a top hat [music in] and a trembling flower, a white face.
He is called Bip because I could not call him Pierrot because he's my alter ego and because Pierrot was essentially a character of a [music out] romantic figure of the 19th century. Bip reminds me of Pip. You remember "Great Expectations" by Dickens? The character was called Pip. I call him Bip. You will see the adventures of Bip struggling like Don Quixote against windmills, at odds with the world, and always in battle but with a heart full of poetry and always loving to create laughter through tears.
[Music]
Bip is a character with whom everybody can identify, because the language of mime certainly does not speak through words but through the heart. And, therefore, it is a common denominator for all nations, for all races. There is no laughing or no crying which is English, French, Russian, Japanese. We laugh and cry at the same moment for the same reasons and often in silence. And this is why I'm very happy to be able to present to you some of my most classic pantomimes de style and some of my most classic pantomimes de Bip.
[Music]