This is one of the early films of the Lumiere brothers which merely document action, rather than telling a story. As ephemeral as they are, many of the very brief Lumiere films are nonetheless of vital historic interest for what they show us of life in that time.
'Partie de boules' is one of the less interesting Lumiere efforts, as it merely shows a few middle-aged members of the French bourgeoise playing lawn bowls, the same game known in Italy as bocce. I was intrigued to see that the players here are male and female competing against each other, the women not showing any disadvantage despite the elaborate Victorian garments and corsets they are wearing.
I was also faintly amused that none of these bowlers are especially good at the game ... at least, not in the brief footage we see here. Oh, well.
