Solaris (1972 film)

Solaris (1972)
Soviet poster
Directed by	Andrei Tarkovsky
Produced by	Viacheslav Tarasov
Written by	Fridrikh Gorenshtein Andrei Tarkovsky based on the novel by Stanisław Lem
Starring	Natalya Bondarchuk Donatas Banionis Anatoly Solonitsyn
Music by	Eduard Artemyev
Release date(s)	March 20, 1972 (1972-03-20) (USSR)
Running time	165 min
Country	USSR
Language	Russian
Budget	RUR 1,000,000 (estimated)
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Solaris (Russian: Солярис, Solyaris) is a 1972 Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is based on the novel Solaris by Polish author Stanisław Lem. The film features Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Nikolai Grinko and Anatoly Solonitsyn and has a soundtrack by Eduard Artemyev. Solaris is a meditative psychodrama that is set mostly on a space station in orbit around the planet-like object called Solaris. The scientific mission on the space station has fallen into a crisis. Psychologist Kris Kelvin travels to the station to evaluate and explore the situation, but soon experiences the same hallucinations that have befallen the other crew members. The film concentrates on the thoughts and the conscience of man, and is a "drama of grief and partial recovery". Solaris and its complex and slow storytelling has sometimes been compared to Western science fiction films, which rely on special effects and an imagined version of the future.^[1] Solaris was a critical success and is widely regarded as one of Tarkovsky's best works. The film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury and the FIPRESCI prize and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Another film adaption of the novel by Stanisław Lem was released in 2002 under the name Solaris, directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Plot

The film opens with psychologist Kris Kelvin walking in the land around his father's house, the day before he is to leave for the space station orbiting the remote, liquid-covered, planet-like object called Solaris. After decades of study, the scientific mission there has made little progress in understanding its subject, and has fallen into crisis. Kelvin is being sent to evaluate the situation and determine the future of the outpost.

Donatas Banionis as Kris Kelvin in Solaris.

A former pilot named Burton is visiting. Together they watch footage of hearings many years before, in which Burton recounted seeing a bizarrely huge child on the surface of Solaris during a search for two missing scientists. His craft's cameras having only recorded clouds and the serene surface, his claims were dismissed as hallucinations. After unsuccessfully trying to convince Kelvin of the truth of his experience Burton leaves angrily, only to call from his car to say that later he met the child of one of the scientists and that excepting its size, it was the same one he'd seen. In an extended sequence, Burton drives with his son through the streets of a busy, foreign city. Kelvin burns most of his old papers in a bonfire before leaving, remarking on how much he'd kept. Arriving at Solaris after his journey, Kelvin is not met by any of the three remaining scientists, and finds the space station in dangerous neglect and disarray. He searches them out, finding that his friend Dr. Gibarian has died mysteriously and the remaining two offer only unhelpful and confusing information. Shortly after being advised by Dr. Snaut not to overreact if he sees anything unusual, he begins to catch glimpses of other people on the station. He begins his investigation against the backdrop of the slowly boiling, mercurial surface of Solaris. Waking from an exhausted sleep, Kelvin finds a woman in his quarters with him despite his barricaded door. It is his wife, Hari. She seems as puzzled by her appearance as he. Realizing she is an apparition of some sort, he lures her into his spacecraft and launches her into space, being caught by the rocket's blast in his haste. Dr. Snaut tends his burns, opening up more now that Kelvin is sharing their experiences. The scientists promote a plan of beaming Kelvin's brainwave patterns at Solaris, in hopes that it will understand them and stop trying to communicate with its disturbing apparitions, and Dr. Sartorius is dissuaded from his more radical plan to attack it by bombarding it with heavy radiation.

Natalya Bondarchuk as Hari in Solaris.

That evening Hari reappears in his room. He is calmer, holding her through the night. When he wakes he attempts to hide the duplicate clothes left by her predecessor, but when he leaves the room she panics, beating her way through the metal door and badly cutting herself. He carries her to his bed, where her injuries heal in front of his eyes. In discussion with the scientists, they both begin to understand that Solaris has created her from his memories of her. She is not human, but has thoughts and feelings; Kelvin introduces her to the others as his wife, and insists that they treat her with respect. Dr. Sartorius explains that the "visitors" began appearing after the scientists attracted Solaris's attention with their first surveys, they are made of neutrinos, and it may be possible to destroy them. Kelvin shows Hari films of himself and his parents when he was a boy, and, later, herself. As time passes she becomes more independent, able to be out of sight of him. From Snaut she learns that the original Hari had committed suicide ten years earlier, and Kelvin tells her the whole story. She kills herself again outside of his quarters by drinking liquid oxygen, only to painfully, spasmodically return to life a few minutes later. The surface of Solaris has become agitated. Kelvin falls into a fevered sleep, dreaming of his mother and many Haris walking around his room. When he recovers she is gone, and Snaut reads him a note she left, in which she explains that she herself asked the scientists to destroy her. Snaut informs Kelvin that since they broadcast Kelvin's brainwaves at Solaris, islands have begun forming on its surface. Kelvin debates whether to return to Earth or to stay on Solaris in the hope of reconnecting with that which was loved and has been lost. He is then seen back on the shore of the frozen pond beside his father's house. His dog runs toward him and he walks happily toward it, but his face falls when he sees that something is wrong: water is falling inside the house and though his father is inside he seems unaware of it. They embrace on the front step. The camera draws back; the house, lake and surrounding land is revealed to be on an island, floating on the surface of Solaris.

Adaptation

Although Tarkovsky's film is fairly faithful to the book, its author, Stanisław Lem, has said "I never really liked Tarkovsky's version". [1]. In the book, Lem describes the inability of human science to properly handle a truly alien life form that is beyond human understanding, while Tarkovsky focuses on Kelvin's feelings towards his wife and the human condition in space exploration (Tarkovsky turns Gibarian's monologue from chapter six of the book into a highlight of the final library scene, in a line which Snaut delivers: "We don't need other worlds. We need mirrors"). Unlike the novel, which begins with Kelvin's spaceflight, Tarkovsky illustrates Kelvin's visit to his parents' house in the countryside prior to his departure, thus creating a contrast with the cold, sterile and alienating atmosphere of the Solaris station and questioning the concept of space exploration and its impact on the human psyche in general.

Criterion DVD Cover

Production

Most of the film was shot in the Soviet Union (in the countryside and at a large studio at Mosfilm), but the scenes of Burton driving through the city were shot in Tokyo by cinematographer Vadim Yusov. Solaris features Bach's chorale prelude for organ, "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" ("I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ"), BWV 639, which is heard four times throughout the film. The interior of the spaceship contains full-size reproductions of Brueghel's Months paintings, The Fall of Icarus, and details of The Hunters in the Snow are displayed in the film. The film features Russian actor Anatoli Solonitsyn, who was discovered by Tarkovsky, in a supporting role.

Responses

Solaris is well known in Russia and other former Soviet nations, and it has also achieved cult film status in the West. The film made a star of 18-year old Natalya Bondarchuk, who played Kelvin's wife (and "resurrected" wife). A frequently criticized aspect of the film is the opening act, which is calm and slow-paced, with little of the drama of the rest of the film. In addition, some viewers feel that the lengthy car traffic sequence is too long for such an early part of the film, as it alienates some viewers. When asked about this by the Soviet censor overseeing the production, Tarkovsky said he made the opening sequence boring on purpose. In his autobiographical documentary Voyage in Time (written a decade after Solaris), Tarkovsky says that he viewed Solaris as unsuccessful. He says that his goal was to make films "without genre", and that Solaris, even with its minimal technical dialogue and special effects, was unable to escape the genre of science fiction, unlike his later film Stalker, which he felt succeeded in circumventing the standard constraints of the genre.

Solaris and 2001

Solaris is often described as a Russian answer to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Tarkovsky saw 2001 just before filming started, and he disliked the film intensely, calling it "cold and sterile" ^[2]. Although some film guides, such as Time Out, have claimed Solaris to be a socialist answer to 2001, Tarkovsky did not involve himself with politics, and preferred to film his concerns about the lack of spirituality in modern society.

References

External links

• Solaris at the Internet Movie Database
• Criterion Collection essay by Phillip Lopate