Oscar favourite The Shape of Water has already had to fend off two charges of plagiarism and is now being accused by a French director of copying scenes from the romantic comedy Amelie and the cult classic Delicatessen.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s black comedy Delicatessen was released in 1991 and quickly became a cult classic, but it was his whimsical take on life and love in the picturesque Paris district of Montmartre, Amelie, that gave him his first global hit.

He claims fellow director Guillermo del Toro was clearly plagiarising one of his scenes in The Shape of Water when he has the characters played by British actor Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins perform a two-step dance while sitting on a sofa watching an old Hollywood movie.

"When [Guillermo del Toro] steals the scene of the couple sitting on the edge of the bed dancing with their feet, with the musical on telly in the background, it is so cut and pasted from Delicatessen that there’s a moment when I say to myself that he lacks self-respect," said Mr Jeunet.

“It is obvious that he had ‘Delicatessen’ in mind,” he said.