Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or her swag? Yeah, scholar Joseph Campbell noticed first—in 1949. He wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces, in which he outlined the 17 stages of a mythological hero's journey.

About half a century later, Christopher Vogler condensed those stages down to 12 in an attempt to show Hollywood how every story ever written should—and, uh, does—follow Campbell's pattern. We're working with those 12 stages, so take a look. (P.S. Want more? We have an entire Online Course devoted to the hero's journey.)

Ordinary World

Zero’s ordinary world in this story is that of a hotel lobby boy. His day-to-day consists of running around, trying to please all the guests and their ridiculous requests and trying not to disappoint Gustave.

Oh, and dating Agatha; we can’t forget that.

Call To Adventure

Zero’s call to action begins with his adventures outside of the hotel with Gustave. Gustave brings Zero with him to attend Madame D.’s funeral, which is where all of their art thievery and other hijinks begin.

Refusal Of The Call

Zero doesn’t ever refuse the call; he could never refuse Gustave anything. In fact, Zero doesn’t really know it’s a call. His adventure is something he is swept up in, not a decision or plan of his own doing.

Meeting The Mentor

This is actually the very first stage of Zero’s journey. It could even be said that Zero’s adventure begins as soon as he meets the eccentric concierge. Although Gustave may not impart wisdom to Zero in a typical Hero’s Journey sense, Zero does certainly learn a lot through him by the film’s end.

Crossing The Threshold

Zero has truly crossed the threshold when he has to break Gustave out of prison. Until this point, Zero’s role has been largely passive; he's someone who mostly follows Gustave around, assisting him and taking orders. But if he wasn’t legally complicit before, he certainly is after smuggling tools into the prison and picking Gustave up after the escape.

Tests, Allies, Enemies

The craziness following the jailbreak is full of tests and troubles for our hero (like the treacherous ski run); allies (like the esteemed Society of the Crossed Keys); and enemies (like the nasty Jopling).

This fast-paced, non-stop segment of the film flows continuously until we get our calm before the final storm.

Approach To The Inmost Cave

Well, maybe it’s not much of a calm, because the final approach to the inmost cave is actually the Zubrowkan war itself. It’s the information we get about the war’s development and the converging of all the military folk at the Budapest that set us up for the Ordeal.

Ordeal

It all goes down where the journey began: the Grand Budapest. Dimitri and fam have arrived and are after the picture, while Henckels is still after Gustave and Zero.

Though perhaps there's no traditional triumph for our hero (unless you count falling out of a window), in the end their persistence wins the day.

Reward (Seizing The Sword)

The reward is, of course, Gustave’s right to basically everything Madame D. owned…along with the clearing of his good name.

The Road Back

If only the movie could have ended there.

Instead, tragedy still looms for Zero who must endure the death of Gustave as he tries to stand up to soldiers once again, and the death of Agatha and their newborn son from sickness. Zero’s road to resurrection is not a happy one.

Resurrection

Zero’s resurrection comes much, much later in life, as he tells the Author of his grand adventure. The telling isn’t just cathartic— it also, in some ways, immortalizes his dear friend who was taken from the Zubrowka too soon.

Return With The Elixir

The elixir, then, is the book of the Author’s recounting of Zero’s story of Gustave and their adventures which the girl reads at the beginning. The book she so adores that she visits the Author’s memorial to put a pin on it.