Solaris

The coldness of the sidereal space hardly would seem fitting for a filmmaker primarily concerned with introspective and spiritual matters like Tarkovsky. Solaris is to many the access point to the cinema of the soviet auteur, a film that is clearly dictated more by commercial urges in a rather conformist context, following the heavy censorship suffered for Andrei Rublev.

In adapting Stanislaw Lem's deeply philosophical science fiction novel, Tarkovsky operates one significant change: an additional, long chapter, featuring the protagonist, psychologist Kris Kelvin, on his last day on Earth before the departure to the ocean planet Solaris, a farewell to the terrestrial realm and to his parents, who will not be alive by the time he would be returning. In this passage the film integrates some backstories that were further expanded in the novel, but Tarkovsky does not seem concerned as much about the fictional lore surrounding Solaris and the so-called "solaristic studies", driving closer to the element concerning the visitors, projections of people existing in the people's memories generated by the ocean - in Kris' case, his wife, who had committed suicide.

Hari is one of the most elaborate characters of the film: a non-human that soon learns to become human, gains a sense of self-identity, as the human counterparts - all male scientists, more or less mortalizing - struggle to understand her. through her, Solaris questions the deeper meaning of human existence, of what makes human consciousness so distinct.

The contrast between the terrestrial and realm of a familiar nature that Kris experiences before his departure and the alien, foreign perception of Solaris points at the centrality of another aspect as well, which is the terrestrial nature of human experience. The astronauts on Solaris find themselves detached from Earth, from a planet that may not be actively thinking or interacting with them but that appears more familiar, while, paradoxically, they find themselves adrift on a planet that seems to have a thinking conscience and that is able to communicate with them - interestingly, through reflections and projections of their homeworld. It's a level of philosophical reflection that can only be enabled by such a sci-fi setting as the film.

Solaris may be the ultimately genuine example that Tarkovsky would have been able to direct an excellent horror film - that is, if we do not consider this one as such. As soon as Kris arrives on the deserted, desolate space station, through distant sounds, slow paced tensions, the absurdity of situations, the distorted reflections of futuristic objects, and Eduard Artemyev's atonal soundtrack, it builds an atmosphere of tension and utter fear, in which a scary event is just at the distance of a slowly opening door.

Solaris feels and appears as the film in which Tarkovsky has been less allowed to express his artistry with freedom. Nonetheless, it remains a seminal piece of his filmography, and an excellent delve into the genre of science fiction from one of the greatest auteurs cinema has ever seen.

RATING: 4.5/5

Original title: Solaris

Directed by: Andrei Tarkovsky

Country: USSR

Year: 1972

Length: 167 min.

Premiere: Cannes Film Festival 1972

Availability: Youtube (official Mosfilm channel), The Criterion Channel (US only)

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