Danse de l'éventail

This is the last film produced by the Lumiere Brothers, a variation on the Butterfly Dance recorded by several companies, released in hand-colored or stenciled versions, some as early as 1894. Lubin's Argentine version had come out a couple of years before this.

The day of the actuality film had just about passed and would be replaced soon enough with the newsreel, collections of actualities. So the way this piece is filmed, as taking part on a raised stage, lends it a mise-en-scene that to the modern eye is a little sad: an acknowledgment that it all has been staged.

The Lumiere brothers had done a lot to create the basics of the motion picture shot. It would be some one else's work to make something of their work.