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Solaris

Roger Ebert December 28, 1976
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"Solaris" is an interesting exception to the rule. It's a 2 1/2 hour
Russian epic, filmed at great expense, and yet it's about the lives
and emotions of its characters -- not about gadgets or monsters or
space opera props. The movie's based on a novel by Stanislas Lem, one
of the leading figures of Eastern European science-fiction, and takes
place partly on a Soviet space station orbiting the mysterious planet
Solaris, and partly in the imaginations and subconscious of the
station's crew members.

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The planet's surface is covered by a vast ocean that's apparently
alive and sentient. And the ocean has the ability to materialize
"guests" on the space station: exact duplicates of people remembered
by the crew. A psychologist is sent to the station to sort out the
situation, and Solaris obligingly presents him with a duplicate of
the girl he loved and left, and who committed suicide many years ago.
And this is where the movie gets interesting (after a pretty slow
start). It concerns itself with matters of love, dignity and our
relationship with God. The girl, or "guest," is a truly original
science-fiction creation. She isn't one of those aliens in disguise
who are out to conquer mankind; in fact, she doesn't fit into any of
the standard categories of aliens who take the shape of men. Even
though she's manufactured from neutrinos, she is the person she
appears to be. And what's a person, anyway?

To complicate things further, the girl has been provided by Solaris
with free will and self-knowledge (those two most burdensome gifts
from any god), and knows that the person she's "based" on is dead.
Now there's a metaphysical double-reverse for you: She's so real she
knows she isn't real, and so aware she knows she shouldn't be aware.
She forgives the psychologist's original attempt to kill her, and
then tries to kill herself because, you see, she's just as much in
love with him as her "original" was, and so she's tormented by doubt
and inadequacy.

"Solaris" isn't a fast-moving action picture; it's a thoughtful,
deep, sensitive movie that uses the freedom of, science-fiction to
examine human nature. It starts slow, but once you get involved, it
grows on you.

Science Fiction
Mystery
Foreign
Drama
Adventure
Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967
until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for
distinguished criticism.

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Film Credits

Solaris movie poster

Solaris (1976)

Directed by

  * Andrei Tarkovsky

Based on the novel by

  * Stanislas Lem

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