Solaris (1972)

Original title

Солярис

Directed by

Andrei Tarkovsky

Genre

drama film, adventure film, science fiction film, art film, arthouse science fiction film

Country

Soviet Union

Runtime

2h 40m

Rated

PG

Rating

7.8 of 10 from 1,853 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A psychologist travels to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris. The scientists there are suffering from emotional crises caused by mysterious phenomena. He soon experiences the same strange events.

contemplativeslow-burnmelancholichauntingintrospectivedreamlikecerebralunsettlingvisually lush

What happens

Solaris (Russian: Солярис, romanized: Solyaris) is a 1972 Soviet science fiction film based on Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel of the same title. The film was co-written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, and stars Donatas Banionis and Natalya Bondarchuk. The electronic music score was performed by Eduard Artemyev and the film also features a composition by J.S. Bach as its main theme. The plot centers on a space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris, where a scientific mission has stalled because the skeleton crew of three scientists have fallen into emotional crises. Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Banionis) travels to the station to evaluate the situation, only to encounter the same mysterious phenomena as the others. Solaris won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. It received critical acclaim, and is often cited as one of the greatest science fiction films in the history of cinema. The film was Tarkovsky's attempt to bring greater emotional depth to science fiction films; he viewed most Western works in the genre, including the recently released 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), as shallow due to their focus on technological innovation. Some of the ideas Tarkovsky expresses in this film are further developed in his film Stalker (1979). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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