Hugo (2011)
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A young boy living in a Parisian railway station becomes entangled in a mystery involving a broken automaton and a legendary filmmaker.
The story
In 1931 Paris, 12-year-old Hugo Cabret lives with his widowed father, a clockmaker who works at a museum. Hugo's father finds a broken automaton – a mechanical man created to draw with a pen. He and Hugo try to repair it, documenting their work in a notebook. Following his father's death in a fire, Hugo goes to live with his alcoholic uncle, Claude, who maintains the clocks at Gare Montparnasse. When Claude goes missing, Hugo continues maintaining the clocks, fearing that the Station Inspector Gustave Dasté will send him away if Claude's absence is discovered. Hugo attempts to repair the automaton with stolen parts, believing it contains a message from his father, but the machine requires a heart-shaped key.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1931 Paris, 12-year-old Hugo Cabret lives with his widowed father, a clockmaker. After his father dies in a fire, Hugo lives with his uncle at the Gare Montparnasse station. He secretly tries to repair a mechanical automaton that his father and he worked on together. While trying to find a heart-shaped key for the machine, Hugo meets a girl named Isabelle. Together, they discover the automaton is linked to the work of the legendary filmmaker Georges Méliès. They eventually find Méliès, who is living in obscurity. The film follows Hugo's journey to save the automaton and reunite it with its owner, Méliès. After a series of events, including a chase through the station and a confrontation with the Inspector, Hugo is reunited with his new family, and Méliès is recognized for his contributions to cinema.
- First release year
- 2011
- Runtime (minutes)
- 126
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Martin Scorsese
- Writers
- John Logan · screenplay
- Genres
- adventure; drama; mystery
- Themes
- magic of cinema
- Tone and mood
- extravagant; elegant; fantasy
- Premise and plot tags
- mystery; automaton; film history
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret
- Reception
- The film received considerable acclaim from critics but was a box-office bomb. It was described as an extravagant, elegant fantasy with an unabashed love for the magic of cinema.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 83 · scale: 100 · review count: 41; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Cinematography · win; Academy Award · Best Art Direction · win; Academy Award · Best Sound Mixing · win; Academy Award · Best Sound Editing · win; Academy Award · Best Visual Effects · win; BAFTA · Best Director · nomination; Golden Globe · Best Director · win
- Production trivia
- The film was Scorsese's first film shot in 3D.; The film features several cameo appearances from actors playing historical figures like Salvador Dalí and James Joyce.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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