Mary and Max: Colour Motifs

Mary and Max is an Australian claymation film from director Adam Elliot which follows a pen pal relationship between an 8 year old girl from Melbourne and a 44 year old man (played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) from Manhattan. Despite it's seemingly sweet aesthetic, the film explores some very adult topics such as loneliness, aspergers syndrome and alcoholism, with characters experiencing different forms of loneliness and finding solace in each-other's letters.

One of the things that stood out to me most about the film is the way the environments reflect the internal characteristics of the two main characters. Max lives in Manhattan and feels isolated and alone, relegating himself to the walls of his room as he is isolated from society, unable to connect. The colour scheme for Max's scenes is almost pure black and white apart from the slight bit of red from Max's headwear. Mary on the other hand, despite living in a country with a far different climate has a similarly dour colour scheme, though this time it is more of a washed out brownish tone, but also with a hint of red with her hair clip. The reoccurring motif of red on both character's headwear  establishes a link between the two characters visually, which is explored more deeply in the film.