F-0144

Title:

Solyaris
Солярис (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Solaris (USA)

Category:

S

Produced:

1972

Country:

Soviet Union

Released:

Mar 1972 (film, Soviet Union); Nov 2002 (2-DVD); DVD (2004)

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writer:

Stanislaw Lem (novel "Solaris"); Fridrikh Gorenshtein (screenplay); Andrei Tarkovsky (screenplay)

Actors:

Natalya Bondarchuk (Hari); Donatas Banionis (Kris Kelvin); Jüri Järvet (Dr. Snaut); Vladislav Dvorzhetsky (Henri Berton); Nikolai Grinko (Kelvin's Father); Anatoli Solonitsyn (Dr. Sartorius); Sos Sargsyan (Dr. Gibarian - as S. Sarkisyan); Olga Barnet (Kelvin's Mother - as O. Barnet); Tamara Ogorodnikova (Aunt Anna); Georgi Tejkh (Prof. Messenger - as G. Tejkh); Yulian Semyonov (Chairman at Scientific Conference - as Yu. Semyonov); Olga Kizilova (Gibarian's Guest - as O. Kizilova)

Description:

The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife who has been dead for seven years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence. (Dan Ellis)

This film probes man's thoughts and conscience, as it follows a psychologist who is sent to a space station situated over the mysterious Solaris Ocean. The two other scientists there tell the psychologist of strange occurrences in the station, and the Ocean's eerie ability to materialize their thoughts. After being in the station for a while, the psychologist finds himself becoming very attached to it's alternate reality... (Philip Brubaker)

The Russian answer to 2001, and very nearly as memorable a movie. The legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky made this extremely deliberate science-fiction epic, an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. The story follows a cosmonaut (Donatas Banionis) on an eerie trip to a planet where haunting memories can take physical form. Its bare outline makes it sound like a routine space-flight picture, an elongated Twilight Zone episode; but the further into its mysteries we travel, the less familiar anything seems. Even though Tarkovsky's meanings and methods are sometimes mystifying, Solaris has a way of crawling inside your head, especially given the slow pace and general lack of forward momentum. By the time the final images cross the screen, Tarkovsky has gone way beyond SF conventions into a moving, unsettling vision of memory and home. Well worthy of cult status, Solaris is both challenging art-house fare and a whacked-out head trip. (Robert Horton, Amazon.com)

The film is based on a science-fiction novel by Polish writer Stanislav Lem. This is a reflection on the themes of cosmos, Earth, man, human conscience, life, death and responsibility before the future. Solaris is a planet, capable of materializing the earth peoples reminiscences about their home which they left on Earth and their relatives who had died long ago. This mysterious planet had intrigued people for years. The Solaris Ocean is a gigantic live brain whose riddle the films protagonists are trying to solve. But all their attempts contact the unknown civilization end in failure. Meanwhile, strange things happen on the space station... Awards: Grand Special Jury Prize Palme dArgent and Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Cannes IFF, 1972; FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary IFF, 1972; Prize for Best Actress (Natalya Bondarchuk) at the Panama IFF, 1973 (Amazon.com)

Language:

German / Russian

Bach's Music:

Chorale Prelude Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I), BWV 639

Film Company:

Creative Unit of Writers & Cinema Workers

Format:

B&W / Color (Sovcolor) film | 2-DVD (Anamorphic, Black & White, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC) | DVD (NTSC, Color, Widescreen, Russian soundtrack only)

VHS/DVD Label:

Criterion [2-DVD] | Krupny Plan [DVD]

TT:

165 min / 115 min (Italy, first release) / 169 min (2-DVD) / 163 min (DVD)

Comments:

Watch selections:

Buy movie at:

Amazon.com [2-DVD] | Amazon.com [DVD]

Source/Links: IMDB
Contributor: Aryeh Oron (November 2007)