In Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, what object is needed to activate the mysterious automaton?

In Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, a heart-shaped key is needed to activate the mysterious automaton.

The key is shaped like a heart and fits a lock on the mechanical figure that Hugo Cabret discovers in the Paris railway station. Hugo carries the key after Isabelle shows it to him, and its distinctive shape becomes the crucial link between the children, the automaton, and the film’s hidden history.

Hugo, released in 2011, adapts Brian Selznick’s illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The story combines a child’s adventure with a tribute to early cinema. The automaton ultimately connects Hugo and Isabelle to Georges Méliès, the pioneering French filmmaker who created elaborate fantasy films in the early twentieth century.

The object is sometimes remembered simply as a “key,” but its heart shape is important to the plot and to the film’s visual symbolism. It is not a pocket watch or a railway object, despite the station setting.