Solaris (1972)

Cover art for Solaris on Blu-ray, highlighting the film's iconic visuals and its profound narrative on existence and memory.
Cover art for the Criterion Collection's release of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 masterpiece Solaris.
About the movie
  • Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
  • Starring: Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet
  • Yes or no?: Yes
  • Links: on Letterboxd, IMDb page
Other reviews:
Damn. This one came from Letterboxd Roulette, courtesy of @jaillud. It was a great suggestion, and they pointed out that I had both Interstellar and 2001: A Space Odyssey in my top ten of all time, so this should complete the trifecta of science fiction greats. In short, it does.

I have owned the Criterion Collection bluray of this movie for about six months. It has been staring at me from the shelf that whole time, daring me to take it on. See, I have this problem where I hear things about certain movies and those things paralyze me from watching. I am afraid I'll miss something, or I won't be emotionally able to handle it. This has scared me because it seems like a really important movie. I want to watch those, but I have to watch them right.

I knew it would be a long ride. I knew it would be a slow ride. But I also trusted Andrei Tarkovsky to land it, and it landed really, really well. I have what I think is a strong theory on the meaning of the movie, but let's just focus on the straightforward movie for a second. As a drama in space, it could use a bit more action. No big deal. It's reminiscent of 2001, which is paced very similarly. The main plot sequence in 2001 is tighter, as it's a more condensed part of the movie.

Here we use the time to draw out a lot of thought. There are silences that last minutes. I felt a bit of an underlying dread throughout. I was ready for something to happen. Irt didn't matter because as the movie cam together, I realized this wasn't a drama about a problem in space compounded by someone's demons. It was a drama about a guy who i either under some sort of psychedelic therapy or going through psychosis. The differences are likely just a matter of context as far as storytelling goes, and I'm stuck between which it is.

Donatas Banionis's Kris Kelvin begins by driving into the city, portrayed by some truly marvelous cityscape shots of Tokyo, which they got for the movie before some logistics blew up preventing them from further filming there. Kelvin is perhaps going to see the therapist, who induces the mental state, and we begin processing the death of Hari. Kelvin's grief causes him to latch on to the facsimile of Hari and fall in love. He begins to believe she's real.

The other scientists are his friends working to help him through this. They appear at times to remind him that Hari is not real. They even remind Hari that she herself is not real (which would get you a death sentence in Inception), causing a serious crisis in Kelvin's world. Gabarian, who Kelvin learns has killed himself prior to Kelvin's arrival, serves as the therapist guiding him through--he warns of possibly seeing things that don't really exist, and to remember that he is not the one who is going crazy.

I don't think it works. As Kelvin falls ill in the station, he sleeps in a bed that is surrounded by walls of the space station made to look like padding. He is falling into psychosis at this point. Islands begin appearing on the surface of the ocean. Kelvin has to decide whether to go home, and we next see at his home on Earth. Except, he is on one of the islands, lost in his own mind on Solaris.

I found this incredible. I don't have grief that I'm dealing with, but I have an understanding of how any traumatic experience can have an effect on a person. As this came into focus for me on this movie, I was moved and found myself drawn further into the movie. It was holding me because I was hopeful. That Kelvin didn't come through ultimately wasn't consequential to my viewing, as the story was what mattered to me. In fact, his end may have made it more resonant.

This is on top of my list for science fiction. It was an incredibly well-told story that made me feel it. Tarkovsky tends to scare me with his length and my feeling that I have to be "ready" to watch his movies. I'm glad I got this one done for pretty great reasons.

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February 02, 2025
Tags: Donatas Banionis | Andrei Tarkovsky | science fiction | Natalya Bondarchuk | all-time