“The Mermaid” portrays the complexity of the relationship between religion (the father) and nature (the mermaid). The mermaid’s physical and emotional transformations over the course of the film parallel the changes in seasons and natural surroundings. (Side note: the mermaid’s intertwined characteristics with nature remind me of Sofya’s parallel to the earth, and Trofim’s parallel to the Neva in “The Flood.”) In the beginning, we see the mermaid reflect winter’s classically beautiful, yet dangerous characteristics; she appears to struggle in the icey river, and the first view of her shows her beautiful, pale face. As spring comes, we see her face become more colored, and her liveliness reflects the vibrance of her surroundings. These very transformations with nature allow her to draw the young man’s attention. While we run the risk of imposing our conception of the siren, I do think that the mermaid’s workings on the man emerge from a place of cunning, rather than love, because she seems to instantly have control over him. Counter to mermaid’s representation of nature and cunning, the young man’s father (who I believe is a priest) seems to stand for religion.

Once the young man has fallen for the mermaid, he goes to his father, but it seems that he does not kiss his hand or accept his father’s blessing. In other words, the mermaid seems to have tempted the man away from faith, blinding him in awe and love (of sorts) for her. If I understood correctly, the mixing and melding of images of the father to the young, naive, man seem to imply that the father had also, long ago, fallen for the mermaid. The key turning point is when, during a flashback, as the father is getting married, he sees the mermaid in church. The mermaid’s presence in the church creates extreme conflict (which is clear when she creates a literal storm outside), because she represents temptation. This flashback shows us why the father tries to keep his son from the tempting and beautiful mermaid.

However, Petrov’s ultimate message is complicated. When the mermaid finally brings about a storm and playfully tips the young man into the water, we see a flash of his cross: the first sign of his own faith. However, the father, as the image of faith, and the mermaid, as the image of cunning, ultimately die, while the young man survives. One one hand, we could interpret, that by having to bury both his father and his love, the young man is punished, and forced to reflect on his sin. Therefore, we see him repairing the church in the last seen, perhaps as a renewed commitment to religion. On the other hand, his survival of the storm seems to imply that his position between his father/religion and the mermaid/temptation, is what prevails over the other two characters’ polarized values.