The Sea

Baignade en mer (1897)

Here's another entertaining film from the Lumiere Brothers. This one here has the camera placed on the shore of a beach where a bunch of children and adults are playing in the water. We see them splashing around and then getting out, running back on the dock and jumping into the water. This film really benefits from some great images and especially of the beach. Just take a look at the darkness of the picture. Obviously I'm going to guess that they weren't overly concerned with lighting at this point in cinema but the look is really beautiful here. At less than a minute the film really captures a moment in time that is quite priceless.

Back in the days of early cinema many filmmakers would film a choppy sea in order to show audiences how effective a motion picture could be. Audiences, according to some, would freak out at seeing the waves splashing toward them, thinking they'd be soaked. This Lumiere film is one of those, except it has more to it. Besides the sea itself, there is also a pier with several people jumping off into the water. (Nearly all are boys with striped bathing suits, but one appears to be an older female woman). The scene is well photographed, and the Lumieres sure knew were to place the camera to get a good view. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see an early use of the film camera.

La Mer (1895)

The American title of this Lumiere Brothers short translates to The Sea and that's basically what we watch for thirty-seconds. We see a small number of people splashing around in the water and jumping into it from a dock. There's obviously nothing ground-breaking about this actuality film but at the same time I always enjoy watching these simply because it captures a moment in time and I just think it's rather cool that someone is watching this footage 120+ years after it was shot. Certainly those playing in the water while it was filmed never could have imagined that the movie would still be viewed so many years later.

It's pleasant and rather nostalgic to watch this simple, but lively, footage of a group of swimmers as they dive and splash in the sea. It almost feels as if you are at the seashore, and it also can bring to mind one's own memories of swimming as a youth.

The photography is nicely done in catching the length of the pier and most of the action of the swimmers, and also in catching the rolling motion of the waves as they come towards the camera. Whether by design or by a fortunate coincidence, it makes the movie work even better that it was filmed on a day with such noticeable motion in the sea itself.

The swimmers themselves seem to be having a good time, and it creates an innocent sense of energy and life that accounts for the movie's simple but pleasing nature.

The tenth film the Lumiere brothers showed at their mini-film festival screening, shown in Paris, in December of 1895, was part of a group of ten films. This was the last film shown. To some, this is the tenth film ever shown with a paid admission. There may be some historians that dispute that assessment. Historical records weren't that great and some dates were lost to time. All of this did happen in 1895, but certain dates do dispute, that some exhibitors may have beaten the Lumiere brothers, by a couple months, to the admission price jackpot. Either way, these are some of the first films ever made. The Sea (1895), gave the audience the first film setting at the beach. Look at the swimming fashions of the day. Everyone is fully dressed with shoes. It was a different time and we wouldn't be able to enjoy it without these early films. Swimmers running down a dock, jumping in the surf and running back to the dock. That's all it was. That's all it needed to be. Put yourself in a 1895, frame-of-mind and soak up some sun at the beach, 130 years ago.

8.9 (A- MyGrade) = 9 IMDB.