A child and his nurse walk in the park. The nurse sits, and the boy digs in the dirt, holding his balloon. Then he loses it.
This is not a great actor, this child; he opens his hand and throws up both his hands in such a grand gesture, the observant audience will know that it is all planned. That, however, is a truism of the Lumiere actualities. They were carefully planned for composition and time, for ones like these were illuminated by natural light, with, perhaps, some reflectors to make sure the image took. Photographic film was then a lot less sensitive than it became, and given the short exposure time of a single frame, needed lots of light.