Oscillating hands each hold a pen; a man made of wire has a malevolent look and an roving eye as he pokes at a bump on his forehead. Op-art stripes are in the fabric. Lines become jumbles that become balls that oscillate, bounce, or stay suspended in air.

The Quay Brothers’ visionary, avant-garde stop-motion has dazzled audiences for decades. In this, the first of their films shot in B&W, a Fragonard painting inspires a quivering visual study of graphic lines and anatomical specimens that brings to life the strange inner life of objects.