In “Atomic Blonde” (2017) directed by David Leitch the truth and lies scene Lorraine gets revenge on Percival for killing Delphine while also recovering the List from him. Leitch uses colour and framing play a huge role in this scene in order to capture the audience’s attention and convey meaning.

From the start of the scene the use of colour plays a crucial role in subtly guiding the audience’s attention to what Leitch subtly wants them to focus on he achieves this by using green lighting as whatever is covered in this green light is usually what the director is asking the audience to focus on. From the very start of the scene when the flashbacks of Delphine taking photos of Percival is shown Delphine is bathed in the green light while the background has a yellow hue to it before cutting to a shot of Lorraine where the green light is placed on the side of her head perhaps to symbolise the gears of her mind turning while she figures out what to do next before finally cutting back to the present to Percival giving his speech about Berlin who is bathed in the light for the entire scene. When Lorraine goes to shoot him, Leitch chooses to focus on her hand holding the gun in the foreground of the shot while the background is the same light once again. This particular green lighting setup helps draw the eye as it’s placed between yellow lighting setups on either side but also after Percival has been shot he stumbles and falls directly into the beam of light and when Lorraine walks closer to Percival Leitch chooses to show the two figures from above and it highlights them and their position in the otherwise primarily dark scene.

Another key aspect of this scene is how Leitch chooses to frame his shots. Close up shots are used on Lorraine and Percival’s to help convey the intensity of the scene but also to show their emotional reactions and emphasise this to the audience especially when important plot information is given to the audience. For a large portion of the scene after Percival has been shot Lorraine is shown using a low angle shot while Percival’s are shown from a high angle to symbolise the power Lorraine has over him in this scene as she could end his life any second. Lorraine only comes down to Percival’s level in the same shot to collect the list and even then, she’s crouched down above him still holding a sense of power over him until the end.

The audio is handled very cleverly as well the dialogue gives away a pivotal moment in the movie before the explicit reveal without directly stating the twist to the audience as the two characters already know what’s going on and Leitch realises it would seem off for either one of them to state it for the audiences sake. The background noise haunting as people in the distance are celebrating the fall of the Berlin wall which is a stark contrast to the scene the audience is watching as something quite gruesome is most likely being drowned out by the lively city around them.