The history of androids (Jaquet-Droz) is the subject of this documentary-fiction available on video. Naturally the film explores the art of master clock making but we also learn what he contributed to the research of the body, human and animal, during a century that was passionate about medical discoveries and the "mechanisms of life" . These automatons not only had their practical functions but their "life" closely imitated nature.

We discover that the automaton Marianne "breathes" as her gaze follows her hands that play a melody on her keyboard, or the workings of "the digesting duck" automaton with it´s ingestion, digestion and expelling of seeds. Besides having amused and the educated the public, the research and development of the automaton led to a giant leap in the technology for the fabrication of mechanical prosthetics.

The documentary dives into the heart of the subject of Jaquet-Droz automatons and discover some of their functions....