As with many of the better Lumiere pictures from this period, this is actually a far more experimental and interesting film than many people would recognize. The Lumieres, having come from still photography, understood composition, but they also understood, as few of their contemporaries did, the fascination of competing lines of movement. Notice the three levels of movement: the boat coming into the quay; the people milling about the quay in seemingly random movement that leaves the interior composition undisturbed and the movement of waves at the top of the frame. These films last less than a minute, yet these competing lines of movement keep the audience interested in a way that a simpler composition would not.