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A tramp falls asleep in a wood and dreams of insects whose habits and morality mirror human society: a vain butterfly, a self-serving dung beetle and ants whose mechanized behavior turns militaristic. Their allegorical lives comment on postwar Czechoslovakia.
At a factory producing artificial workers, the robots eventually rebel and destroy humanity; the surviving engineer later recognizes newly awakened feelings in two robots and entrusts the future to them.
Opera singer Emilia Marty reveals her interest in a century-old inheritance case and directs the Gregor family’s lawyer to a missing will. In pursuing a document that holds the formula for eternal life, she exposes that she is Elina Makropulos, born in 1575 and kept alive for more than three centuries by her alchemist father’s potion. As the potion wears off, she refuses another dose, and Kristina burns the formula.
In a family living room, Dolores speaks with her dead husband and sons as each explains the wartime or other cause of his death. When her last surviving son wants to leave, she resists until a radio report of an attack on a school leads her to give him a weapon.
As a disease kills people over forty-five, Doctor Galén withholds his cure until world peace is declared, treating only the poor. The Marshal chooses war over medicine until he falls ill and accepts Galén's terms, but Galén is killed by a pro-war crowd before he can reach him.
Famous singer Emilia Marty intervenes in a century-old inheritance dispute, displaying impossible knowledge of the families involved. She reveals that she is Elina Makropulos, who has lived for more than 300 years through a potion of extended youth; as the others debate immortality's value, Emilia explains her apathy and Kristina destroys the formula.
A tramp falls asleep in a wood and dreams of insects whose habits and morality mirror human society: a vain butterfly, a self-serving dung beetle and ants whose mechanized behavior turns militaristic. Their allegorical lives comment on postwar Czechoslovakia.
At a factory producing artificial workers, the robots eventually rebel and destroy humanity; the surviving engineer later recognizes newly awakened feelings in two robots and entrusts the future to them.
Opera singer Emilia Marty reveals her interest in a century-old inheritance case and directs the Gregor family’s lawyer to a missing will. In pursuing a document that holds the formula for eternal life, she exposes that she is Elina Makropulos, born in 1575 and kept alive for more than three centuries by her alchemist father’s potion. As the potion wears off, she refuses another dose, and Kristina burns the formula.
In a family living room, Dolores speaks with her dead husband and sons as each explains the wartime or other cause of his death. When her last surviving son wants to leave, she resists until a radio report of an attack on a school leads her to give him a weapon.
As a disease kills people over forty-five, Doctor Galén withholds his cure until world peace is declared, treating only the poor. The Marshal chooses war over medicine until he falls ill and accepts Galén's terms, but Galén is killed by a pro-war crowd before he can reach him.
Famous singer Emilia Marty intervenes in a century-old inheritance dispute, displaying impossible knowledge of the families involved. She reveals that she is Elina Makropulos, who has lived for more than 300 years through a potion of extended youth; as the others debate immortality's value, Emilia explains her apathy and Kristina destroys the formula.