Partie d'écarté

this film is a close relation to 'Repas de Bebe', a static scene at a table, in contrast to the films of movement, such as 'Sortie d'Usine' or 'Arrivee d'un train', suggesting a schizophrenia in the Lumieres' aesthetic, between the settle domestic and the energy of motion.

Not that 'Partie d'ecarte' is a tableau vivante - there is plenty of movement here, as three cardsharks are served drinks by a hyperactive waiter, a waiter who disrupts all symmetry - the card game; the positioning of the players; the composition of the image, with his intrusive, gestural obsequiousness. In a way, though he IS linked to the game, a game based on chance; he too is a wild card unsettling all attempts at harmony, at minimising the risks of chance.

The film is wonderful for other things too - the precariousness of a social order; the image of the fat complacent bourgeois; the pleasant country inn; the pouring of drinks - another level of movement, or framing of movement, in this deceptive short.

During 1895, Louis Lumiere made a number of home movies starring his family and friends. In this film, Louis' father Antoine is playing a game of cards with a family friend, Felicien Trewey (a vaudeville performer). Another unidentified man is involved in the game as a waiter serves drinks and seems grotesquely intrusive. That's about it for this film. It can be noted that Trewey acted in: "The Transformation of Hats"(1895) where he does a comedy sketch; and "The Photograph"(1895)- where he appears with Lois' brother Auguste. These films were probably made at the same time as "Partie d'ecarte". Trewey also helped establish a Lumiere Theatre in Lyon during 1896 and set up a presentation of the Cinematograph at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in London during February 1896.

I watched this film on a DVD that was rammed with short films from the period. I didn't watch all of them as the main problem with these type of things that their value is more in their historical novelty value rather than entertainment. So to watch them you do need to be put in the correct context so that you can keep this in mind and not watch it with modern eyes. With the Primitives & Pioneers DVD collection though you get nothing to help you out, literally the films are played one after the other (the main menu option is "play all") for several hours. With this it is hard to understand their relevance and as an educational tool it falls down as it leaves the viewer to fend for themselves, which I'm sure is fine for some viewers but certainly not the majority. What it means is that the DVD saves you searching the web for the films individually by putting them all in one place – but that's about it.

With this film we have the usual action that is summed up in the title. In essence watching this action is quite dull because there is not a "pay-off" or a reason to watch it but here I actually found myself held by the film. What it was I realised was that the camera had a very small area within its view but it had four characters within this small area. With this small area we have two men playing one another, another pouring drinks and a waiter looking on and laughing. Dramatically it offers nothing but I was surprised by the amount of stuff happening and how many focal points we had. Do I look at the game, the man pouring or try and see what the waiter finds so funny? It was the first time one of these films on the DVD had done this to me and the first one that engaged.

Of course I'm not saying this is an attempt at a Short Cuts multi-layered film but it was nice to find this much movement all working together in such a tight short from Lumière.

On December 28, 1985, the Lumière brothers showed a new invention to the world, able to project motion pictures in a screen, in the same way as slide-show photographs were done. Lumière's movies showed the common events of real life as they were captured by their camera and brought to life by the Cinématographe; the thirty-three people who saw their movies for the first time watched in awe as people walked through streets or played cards as if the photograph projected on the screen was alive. It is often said that photographs are captured memories of the past, that allow us to revisit moments long gone and to witness events from a distant time and place. Well, if cinema is basically moving photographs, the same thing can be said about it, as when Louis and August Lumière decided to experiment with moving pictures, their principal motivation was to capture real life as they knew it. And they more than succeeded in their attempt.

On that first screening, the brothers showed 10 movies, but many more moves were done for future screenings. "Partie De Cartes" (literally, "Card Game") was one of those made to follow that initial success. What made "Partie De Cartes" different to most of the Lumière's actuality films, is that in this movie, the focus is not in showing movement, but on the capture on film of the characters and their actions. While many of the early films by the pioneers were done focusing on moving elements (trains, traffic, etc), this movie was about capturing a relaxed family scene, like a vignette or a modern family vacation film. "Partie De Cartes" is about a game of cards played between Antoine Lumière (the brothers' father), Félicien Trewey and Alphonse Winckler, while a waiter (Antoine Féraud) brings them drinks and comments on their game. While it has not really a plot, it is a charming scene that reflects the filmmakers' life and times.

Like "Repas De Bébé" ("Baby's Meal"), "Card Game" is a movie that contrasts sharply with the Lumière's style of film-making, but at the same time it complements it. Considering that both were photographers besides being inventors, it seems natural that this kind of vignettes were among the first movies done by the duo, as they perfectly understood the potential of cinema as an innovative form to capture memories with a higher realism than photographs. On a strictly technical level, "Partie De Cartes" is one of the best looking movies among their early films, and one could say that while no artists, the brothers had a pretty good idea of what would later be called "Mise-en-scène" (the overall visual composition), as they really set the camera in the best place to capture the action. While lacking the strong initial impact of their first movie ("La Sortie Des Usines Lumière") or the creativity of "L' Arroseur Arrosé", this Lumière movie is really interesting as one of the very first family movies ever made. 6/10

This film is also known as, Card Game (1896), Partie de Cartes (1896) and A Quiet Game of Écarté (1896). The Messers Lumière at Cards (1896), is a great pioneering film. The scene is clearly staged, because the film is considered the first alcoholic beverage commercial ever made. The main guy at the table, owned either a beer, wine or alcohol factory. He was very popular back then, so people seeing him pour and drink his beverage on film, was technically free advertising. To keep things in order, all of the film was staged, although the waiter does overact a little. Are these the first hired actors maybe? Probably not, but the idea is there and the seeds to narrative drama, begin to grow, in 1896. The Messers Lumière at Cards (1896), is a Lumiere classic, with their pioneering glow, once again, making cinematic discoveries, with every film they release.

9.3 (A MyGrade) = 9 IMDB.