It is important to remember that each visual appeal communicates to viewers the cinematographer’s concept of beauty. Camera angles, lens choices, composition, costume choices, music, editing/effects, and even the narrative and screenplay should all be designed to heighten our emotional reaction to what we are watching. Perhaps what is most noticeable about the look of Pi is its light/shadow contrast complemented by its being filmed in black and white, such as Max’s dark apartment vs. Sol’s bright cheery one (sol, Latin/Spanish for “the sun”), the bright, busy street vs. the dark bar Max retreats to in order to avoid the crowd, the intense artificial light of Max’s stairwell and his bathroom vs. the natural light in the park which all add intensity to the theme of light/the sun.
Max obviously finds math beautiful—it’s his way of understanding nature. Another source of beauty in his life is Devi (meaning “goddess” in Sanskrit), but he is unable to heed Sol’s advice and acknowledge both beauties simultaneously. Max shies away from Devi, but nonetheless her beauty radiates though Max’s thin apartment walls and she inadvertently plays a role in the coincidental discovery Max makes when his computer crashes.
