Characters page for Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Spoilers will be unmarked
Jack
Voiced by: Mathias Malzieu (French), Orlando Seale (English)
The titular protagonist who has a cuckoo-clock where his heart is supposed to be.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The reason as to how this leads to the fight in which he pecks Joe's eye out. In the novel, he simply does it in self-defense after getting fed up with Joe constantly torturing him for no apparent reason and withholding Miss Acacia's whereabouts; meanwhile, in the film, he takes a postcard that Miss Acacia sent to Joe during the latter's birthday when it flies in the wind and refuses to give it back after Joe rightfully asks for it back. While Joe continuing to pick on him in response might've been a Disproportionate Retribution, Jack wasn't any better not giving back something that wasn't his.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: At least in regards to pecking Joe's eye out; in the novel he did it on purpose, while in the film it was a very genuine accident.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: In the novel, the cuckoo-clock turns out to be a placebo that was simply meant to unfreeze Jack's real heart, but that Madeleine didn't bother to remove in order to keep Jack close to her. In the film, the audience is clearly shown that the real heart had to be removed, so Jack is indeed in need of it, which in turn increases the film's stakes.
- All of the Other Reindeer: During his school years, Jack was often teased by the other children because of his cuckoo-clock heart and mostly left out.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While Jack is usually a pretty polite and friendly person, if he feels mistreated in any way, he will not think twice in fighting back or standing up for himself, which both Joe and Brigitte Heim find the hard way.
- Death by Adaptation: In the original book, Mathias Malzieu's other novels and Dionysos' music, Jack only falls into a comma for a while and after losing Miss Acacia, he eventually grows into a giant who lives for a very long time, with it being revealed that his body grew out of his grave. The film instead ends with him ascending into heaven after freezing while kissing Miss Acacia, suggesting that none of the previous stuff happens and thus effectively passing away.
- Happily Adopted: As strict as Madeleine is (though not without reason), she genuinely cares about Jack and they both care for one another.
- Pretty Boy: As a teen, Jack certainly turns into a bit of a looker in a very delicate way.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: In compariosn to everyone else in the movie, who are mostly either blonde or brunnette, Jack is the only character who is red-headed and also noticeably has green eyes, which is also something not many characters in the movie have.
- Mr. Vice Guy: As mentioned above, Jack has a bit of a temper and is willing to stand up to those to mistreat him, while also being a bit impulsive and often ignoring the three rules Madeliene gave him; but despite that, Jack is still polite, jovial and a great guy to be around with.
Miss Acacia
Voiced by: Olivia Ruiz (French), Samantha Barks (English)
A beautiful Spanish singer and flamenco dancer from Andalusia whom Jack falls in love with. She has the ability to grown throns around her when when she feels threatned.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Like Jack, while she still has moments where her emotions get the best of her, a lot of her more unlikable moments from the original novel are cut, thus making her come off as more likable.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Downplayed with both of her relationships.
- While she still was friends with Joe and actaully dated him at one point, in the novel, after Jack falls into a comma that make people assume he died, they both get married. As this part of the novel didn't make it into the film, Joe and Miss Acacia just remain friends and never get married.
- In regards to Jack, while they still date each other, in the novel, after finding out Jack was still alive and was seeing her while not revealing his identity, Miss Acacia gets upset at this revelation and tells him to his face that, from her perspective, he no longer exists. Like her marriage to Joe, this also doesn't get adapted and she instead rushes to Edinburgh to return the key that winds up his heart, and the film's final scene involves bothf the kissing as Jack freezes to death. Needless to say, they end the relationship in far less bitter, if still sad, terms.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the film, she has the ability to sprout thorns around her when she feels a threat against her, while in the novel, there was no mention of her having any ability of such kind. Given that L'Extraourdinarium is an amusement park with freak or people with supernatural powers in both versions, this is a Justified Trope, as she needs to have a valid reason to be there.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Pretty much so, which is another reason why Jack falls for her.
- Flower Motifs: She is associated with roses, with both her red dress, the fact that she decorates her hair with them and the fact that she can sprout thorns to protect herself.
- Head-Turning Beauty: She is certainly a very beautiful girl and is quite understandable why Jack and Joe are atractted to her. Even other people who aren't attracted to her romantically, like Melies, comment on her beauty.
- Nice Girl: She can get very emotional and can get defensive, but is overall a really sweet girl who cares about her loved ones and is overall friendly to most people.
- Lady in Red: Given that she dances flamenco, this is a given.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: One of her most noticeable attributes and part of her appeal.
Joe
Voiced by: Grand Corps Malade (French), Harry Sadeghi (English)
The film's closest thing to a main antagonist. A boy who bullies Jack during their school years, which also leads to him losing one of his eyes; he is also in love with Miss Acacia.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The film cuts a lot of the things that gave him a lot more depth and explained his actions in the original novel, that way in order to get the audience to root against him more easily.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: His design is quite noticeably monochrome, which is only accentuated more with him mostly wearing black clothing.
- Evil Is Petty: While not necessarily evil per se, his reason to bully Jack, besides his cuckoo-clock heart, is because Jack committed the horrific deed of also being interested in Miss Acacia.
- Jerkass: Well, you wouldn't exactly call someone who has turned the school yard into his domain while also terrorizing the children and targeting another boy with a medical condition a particularly likable person.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Joe is not a particularly likable person, given that he has frightened most of the kids in his school in order to have control of it, takes pleasure in bullying Jack and can be quite hostile. However, he does genuinely care about and love Miss Acacia.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Yes, Joe punching in response was not the best idea given what it lead to, but he had every right to get angry at Jack refusing to return a postcard that Miss Acacia had sent to him.
- Karma Houdini: Downplayed. He doesn'y get any lasting consequences for his years of bullying Jack besides losing his eye. However, it's also worth noting that Miss Acacia does leave him to get back to Jack, and since we never know if she ever gets back to him, it's pretty safe to assume that he still lost the abttle with Jack in the long run.
- Morality Pet: The only character he is consistently nice to is Miss Acacia, whom he is love with. Quite noticeably, when Miss Acacia leaves him to return to Jack, he doesn't attempt to stop her and lets her do it despite looking sad at her doing so.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Despite his pale skin and being way taller than both Jack and Miss Acacia, Joe is undeniably still pretty good-loking even when he's wearing an eye-patch. It helps that he dresses well.
Madeleine
Voiced by: Marie Vincent (French), Emily Loizeau (French; Singing), Barbara Scaff (English)
An eccentric witch doctor and Jack's adoptive mother.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the original novel, she placed the cuckoo-clock on Jack's heart as way to unfreeze it and help it beat in the first few month of his life, but after growing attached to him, she decides to lie about Jack's condition in order to keep him sheltered and close to her forever. In the film, as the heart had to genuinely be removed, Madeleine is simply a genuinely and understandably strict and concerned guardian who wants what's best for her adoptive son and doesn't want him to die.
- Broken Bird: She sadly dies in prison of a broken heart after Jack has to leave her.
- Cool Old Lady: While she might not seem like it, she's quite elderly. She's also really nice, enjoys caring for people with disabilities and does mechanical devices to boot.
- Dark and Troubled Past: If her lines to Jack as to why she doesn't want him to fall in love with anyone are any indication, it seems that she herself had a pretty tough time with both life and romance.
- Freudian Excuse: The other reason she's so overprotective of Jack is because she had always wanted to have a child but has always been unable to, so Jack is her best chance at this.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She may not make gadgets, but her medical implants, including the cuckoo-clock heart, suggests she's this to an extent.
- Good Parents: Despite her overprotectiveness, Madeleine genuinely loves Jack and simply wants him to be a healthy boy.
- My Beloved Smother: Though it's quite honestly not hard to blame her given Jack's condition. Downplayed, as she lets him, although reluctantly, to go to school when he asks to.
- Nice Girl: She may be strict, but Madeleine is a pretty mellow, sweet woman.
- Silver Vixen: She's quite elderly, but her looks are still in a pretty pristine condition.
- Only Sane Woman: Though a bit eccentric, she's one of the film's more sensible characters, as she's perfectly aware of how fragile Jack's heart is and is constantly on guard to check he doesn't get in any trouble.
Georges Méliès
Voiced by: Jean Rochefort (French), Stéphane Cornicard (English)
A certain french filmmaker and magician who joins Jack on his journey to Andalusia.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: While the real Méliès certainly wasn't ugly, here he look much younger and better looking, with a full head of hair to boot.
- Beta Couple: His eventual relationship with the Conjoined Twins could be considered this.
- Cool Teacher: He becomes Jack's mentor.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: He does have a pretty big imagination and ideas, such as building a mode of transportation to the moon and take his possible wife there.
- Chick Magnet: The reason as to how he knows so much about romance. He even manages to earn himself the love of some Conjoined Twins in L'Extraordinarium.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Certainly so. He built his own camera and has a lot automata and mechanical pieces roaming in his workshop, so he's able to fix Jack's cuckoo-clock heart.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He quickly bonds with Jack over being interested in romance
- Historical Domain Character: Yep, he's the same Georges Méliès who would eventually revolutionize cinema as a whole.
- Manic Pixie Dream Guy: A platonic variation. He is quite jovial, a bit energetic and constantly supports Jack in his endeavors and gives him advice. Despite that, he is also fully capable of taking a situation seriously.
- Nice Guy: He's easily the one of the most likable character out of the entire cast. He supports Jack on his romantic crusade, doesn't hesitate in helping him and gives him both romantic and life advice.
Arthur
Voiced by: Arthur H (French), Richard Ridings (English)
A retired policeman who has a xylophone-like spinal cord in his back and a friend and frequent patient of Madeleine.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Downplayed. He does seem to have a few quirks, but he otherwise seems perfectly grounded
- Cool Old Guy: Despite his old age, he acts like a surrogate father to Jack and cheers him up by gifting an egg that'll let him show his most precious memory.
- Demoted to Extra: While he still does have a pretty big role, lot of the stuff he did in the original book gets cut and thus doesn't get as much development.
Anna
Voiced by: Babet (French), Sophia Ellis (English)
A chubby prostitute who is always seen together with Luna; she's one of Madeleine's friends and Jack's surrogate aunts.
- Adaptational Curves: The original novel describes her as a "tall, faded rose", implying that she must be tall and skinny, while in the film she's shorter and chubbier.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Despite her chubiness, she undeaniably looks really cute.
- Big Fun: It comes with being a bit immature, but she's undeniably a great person to be around with.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: This exchange implies both she and Luna have their heads a bit loose.
- Madeleine: Don't be daft, Anna and Luna have seen the storks again, what else can I do?Anna: Where are the storks?Luna: (giggles)
- Fat and Skinny: The Fat to Luna's Skinny.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Luna. They're never seen apart from one another.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Their clothing and the above exchange implies that both she and Luna are prostitutes; she's also one of the nicest characters.
- Womanchild: Despite being an adult, she still acts like a teenager at best.
Luna
Voiced by: Rossy De Palma (French), Jessie Buckley (English)
A tall prostitute from Andalusia who is always seen together with Luna; she's one of Madeleine's friends and Jack's surrogate aunts.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: The original novel describes her as a "shiummering blonde" and is noted to look like a precursor to famous singer and actress Dalida; in the film, she instead has raven-hair and resembles Eva Green more.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: This exchange implies both she and Anna have their heads a bit loose.
- Madeleine: Don't be daft, Anna and Luna have seen the storks again, what else can I do?Anna: Where are the storks?Luna: (giggles)
- Fat and Skinny: The Skinny to Anna's fat.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Anna. They're never seen apart from one another.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Their clothing and the above exchange implies that both she and Anna are prostitutes; she's also quite fun to be around with and is genuinely nice.
- Mrs Fanservice: Because of her profession, she wears rather skimpy clothing.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She doesn't appear much in the film, but her school uniform looking very similar to Miss Acacia's dress when she met her does give Jack an idea of looking for her at the local school.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's the second tallest character in the film, and she's certainly really good looking.
- Token Minority: Among Madeleine's circle of friends, she's the only foreigner. In the film proper, both she and Miss Acacia are hispanic.
- Womanchild: Despite being an adult, she still acts like a teenager at best, which is further cemented by her still keeping her school uniform.
Brigitte Heim
Voiced by: Dani (French), Michelle Fairley (English)
The grumpy owner of L'Extraordinarium's Ghost Train and Jack's boss while he works there.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. There's virtually no difference between her book and film counterparts, but some of her but in the former, after Joe arrived in Andalusia, she immediately hires him and fires Jack with no second thoughts. As Jack himself quits in the film, she no longer has to do this.
- Adaptational Jerkass: While she was still not a very likable character, in the book she did mention having a dog she loved very much. This never happens in the film.
- Adaptational Karma: Her book counterpart gets no punishment for her mistreatment of Jack and later replacing him with Joe despite making her Ghost Train profitable one more; meanwhile, the film has her get knocked down inside her ticket booth by Jack himself.
- Asshole Victim: After seeing how rude and cruel she has been towards Jack during his entire tenure at the Ghost Train, it's quite hard to pity her after he knocks down the ticket booth with her inside of it.
- Grumpy Old Woman: She is often shown to be in a pretty bad mood and is quite rude towards Jack.
- Hate Sink: As much of a bully as he is, Joe at least does have some redeeming qualities that humanizes him a bit and makes him more sympathetic. Meanwhile, Brigitte Heim is a very cold, aloof and very grumpy old woman who is rude to Jack even before he starts working for her, and when he does, he often criticizes and insults him. As such, it's much more satisfying to see her get her commeupance.
- Jerkass: As mentioned above, she doesn't exactly treat Jack well and is often both dismissive of him and quite cold.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's not exactly the nicest of old ladies and she could've been less harsh in her words, but she's justified in criticizing Jack for failing to scare the riders of The Ghost Train and instead making them laugh, as that's the job he was hired to do.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Jack quits and is still making cruel remarks towards him, Jack proceeds to knock down the ticket booth she is in.
- Lean and Mean: She's very skinny, but boy does she have a personality...
- Not So Above It All: Despite her often being aloof and, in contrast to other people, isn't surprised by Jack's heart, she's shown to take part in Méliès's film.
- Odd Friendship: She's implied to at least get along well with Méliès to some degree, as she otherwise probably wouldn't have taken part in his film.
- Perpetual Frowner: She very rarely smiles.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Her being knocked down is the last we see of her in the film. Though it's safe to assume she either got herself out or someone helped her.
Jack The Ripper
Voiced by: Alain Bashung (French), Howard Samuels (English)
The infamous woman killer who Jack briefly meets on the train to London.
- Ax-Crazy: He is Jack the Ripper after all.
- Jack the Ripper: I'll slit them open before they take fright. Compliments of your humble servant Jack the Ripper!
- Demoted to Extra: Not that he had a large role in the book to begin with, but at least he had a Small Role, Big Impact in inspiring Jack to work at the Ghost Train; as much of his dialogue is cut down, his scene in the film instead comes out like a
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. - Early-Bird Cameo: He has a very small and quick apperance in Edinburgh during Jack's first trip there in a dark alley way.
- Faux Affably Evil: He at first seems like a strange but friendly man who recites verses... until he reveals his true identity and chases down Jack with a knife in a attempt to kill him.
