The invention concerns a film element having a replication layer (43), wherein an optically active surface structure (27) is shaped in a first surface of the replication layer. The surface structure is formed in at least a first region of the film element (35) by a first diffractive surface relief (46) comprising a plurality of successive elements following a first envelope curve (47), wherein the elements respectively comprise an element surface (48) arranged substantially parallel to a base surface and at least one flank adjoining the adjacent element surface or surfaces, the element surfaces (48) of adjacent elements are spaced in a direction perpendicular to the base plane, with a first optical spacing or a plurality of the first optical spacing, wherein the first optical spacing is between 150 nm and 800 nm, preferably between 150 nm and 400 nm. The first envelope curve (47) has a spatial frequency of between 100 L/mm and 2000 L/mm and an optical depth of more than 450 nm and the relief shape and the spatial frequency of the envelope curve (47) are so selected that the incident light is diffracted into one or more first directions to represent a first item of information, the color value of which is further determined by the first optical spacing.