It’s a simple theme that breaks down to man’s arrogance over the immense power of nature.
When we first see the hotel, it’s situated amongst a large mountain range. It’s a large building but the mountains… are larger.
They’re also completely (visually) removed with the onset of the snow storm, and removing them from the shots allows the viewer to focus solely on the “domestic story”.
Man can do great things, but Mother Nature will always be greater.
In this image · No.89
Wendy, the Snowcat, and the Mountain Shape
The arrangement in No.89 places Wendy beside the snowcat, with their unequal heights and sloping outlines forming a mountain-like composition. I connect that arrangement with the golden ratio and the film’s larger relationship between the hotel and the mountain landscape. The visual comparison concerns the organization of the frame; no measured ratio is asserted.