Rohmer delineates a parallelism between the painting of Hals and Rousseau the customs officer and Lumière’s films, where apparent randomness is the result of meticulous research. He also questioned Jean Renoir and Henri Langlois about the arrival of that train that “rushed” on frightened viewers at the first public screening with an entrance ticket in the history of cinema. “The great thing about Lumière’s films is that he didn’t show history, he showed life. And life doesn’t mean what you first think, that you stand wherever and show people walking down the street… life is something deeper, and this is why Lumière’s films are so important. Life is not only an external object, it’s the atmosphere, the philosophy, the art, the thought, the way of living of the times.” (Langlois)