The Colors of 'Amelie'

In Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s romantic masterpiece AMELIE, the narrative, characters, and production design are all geared towards giving the film a very distinctive “fairy tale” atmosphere that further informs its romantic qualities. This involves removing the audience from the story, to a certain degree, and presenting the narrative as though it’s being delivered to us, it is something we are being shown in the hopes we will find ourselves in it, but it is not a standard romantic comedy in which the characters are supposed to be everypeople. This is a very specific narrative happening to a very specific character who isn’t meant to be a mirror to its audience, but an extrapolation of that audience’s desires and expectations for the genre and romance at large. Of the many ways Jeunet accomplished this, his use of colors go the furthest towards creating a removed world that lives inside us all.

Here we focus on Jeunet’s light and airy color scheme that he keeps consistent throughout the entire film, which adds a dreamlike component to the fairy tale environment, as though it’s a tale being told by its own protagonist. The director focuses on three colors – green, yellow and red – and incorporates several shades of each to help tell his story.