I forgot that we have a dedicated thread for Four Last Things.
Anyway if you go further in the gameplay video, you’ll see how the main character has to sit on a chair, or do other tasks that involve special animations. I also find animations in four last things similar to those you described, if you go to the 1:37 minute, as for the lady near the well. Or the joker dancing, which is basically done with only five frames (I’ve counted them 
).
As for the backgrounds, I also like that there are layers for the paintings, in order to let the main character go behind some elements, like trees or statues, thus giving more depth to the scene.