Directed by: Louis Lumière
There are three versions of the film, often referred to as “one horse”, “two horses”, and “no horses” due to a horse-drawn carriage appearing in the first two instances (pulled by either one horse or two horses) but missing in the third. Another notable difference is a change in clothing, denoting the different seasons during which the workers were filmed.
While Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope allowed a film to be viewed by one individual at a time (through a peephole), the Lumière brothers’ Cinématographe projected the images on a wall to an audience. La Sortie de l’Usine Lumière à Lyon was first screened to a scientific conference in their basement and subsequently to the public on December 28, 1895, at the Grand Café on 14 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. The films shown, in order of presentation:
1. La Sortie de l’Usine Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory)
2. La Voltige (Trick Riding)
3. La Pêche aux Poissons Rouges (Fishing for Goldfish)
4. Le Débarquement du Congrès de Photographie à Lyon (The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon)
5. Les Forgerons (Blacksmith Scene)
6. Le Jardinier / L’Arroseur Arrosé (The Sprinkler Sprinkled)
7. Le Repas / Repas de bébé (Baby’s Dinner)
8. Le Saut à la Couverture (Jumping the Blanket)
9. La Place des Cordeliers à Lyon (Cordeliers’ Square in Lyon)
10. La Mer / Baignade en Mer (The Sea)
The event is widely considered the first commercial projection of film to an audience and the birth of cinema.
The films can be interpreted as the moment between work and leisure, the gate symbolic of this divide. However, viewed in succession as one work, it can be seen as a comment on work life: time passes but the scene remains largely the same. In layman’s terms, ‘same shit, different day’. In any case, the continuous flow of people gives the impression of a workforce rather than individuals, the single drops merging into a stream.
The “no horses” version accomplishes what Louis Lumière perhaps intended to achieve – a visual narrative. There is a clear beginning, middle, and end as the gates open, the workers leave, and the gates close. Storytelling begins to enter the medium.
Bibliography
Crow, J. (2014). ‘Watch the Films of the Lumière Brothers & the Birth of Cinema (1895)’, Open Culture, 28 August. Available at: http://www.openculture.com/2014/08/watch-the-films-of-the-lumiere-brothers-the-birth-of-cinema-1895.html [Accessed: 4 December 2021].
Dirks, T. (n.d.). ‘Greatest Film Milestones Pre-1900s’, filmsite. Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/milestonespre1900s_2.html [Accessed: 4 December 2021].
IMDb contributors (n.d.). ‘Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895)’, IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000010/ [Accessed: 4 December 2021].
Just Another Film Buff (2013). ‘Flashback #88’, The Seventh Art, 14 April. Available at: https://theseventhart.info/2013/04/14/flashback-88/ [Accessed: 4 December 2021].
Un Jour de plus à Paris (2016). ‘La première séance publique de cinéma de l’histoire au 14, Boulevard des Capucines’, Un Jour de plus à Paris. Available at: http://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/paris-insolite/premiere-seance-publique-cinema [Accessed: 4 December 2021].
Reel Lessons 