Solyaris (1972)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers:

Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Fridrikh Gorenshtein (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 March 1972 (Soviet Union)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence...

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Psychologist | Ocean | Space Station | Hallucination

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vitalik Kerdimun		(as V. Kerdimun)
Tatyana Malykh
Aleksandr Misharin		(as A. Misharin)
Bagrat Oganesyan		(as B. Oganesyan)
V. Statsinsky
Valentina Sumenova		(as V. Sumenova)

Directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky

Writing credits
Stanislaw Lem		(novel "Solaris")
Fridrikh Gorenshtein		(screenplay) &
Andrei Tarkovsky		(screenplay)

Produced by
Viacheslav Tarasov	....	producer

Original Music by
Eduard Artemyev

Cinematography by
Vadim Yusov

Film Editing by
Lyudmila Feiginova
Nina Marcus

Production Design by
Mikhail Romadin

Costume Design by
Yelena Fomina		(as Nelli Fomina)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
A. Ides	....	assistant director
Yuri Kushneryov	....	assistant director
Larisa Tarkovskaya	....	assistant director
Maria Chugunova	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Special Effects by
A. Klimenko	....	special effects artist
V. Sevostyanov	....	special effects camera

Camera and Electrical Department
Vadim Murashko	....	photographer (as V. Murashko)
Yuri Nevsky	....	assistant camera
E. Paramanov	....	chief lighting technician
Yevgeni Shvedov	....	camera operator (as Ye. Shvedov)

Music Department
Raisa Lukina	....	music editor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Creative Unit of Writers & Cinema Workers
• Mosfilm
• Unit Four

Distributors

• Seagull Films (2006-2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (Czech Republic)
• Contemporary Films (1990) (UK) (all media)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video (EHV) (Argentina) (video)
• Fox Lorber (USA) (VHS)
• General Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Magna (1976) (USA) (subtitled)
• RUSCICO (2004) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Sci-Fi Pictures Inc./Magna Distribution Corp. (1979) (USA) (subtitled)
• Sovexportfilm (Argentina)
• Taipan Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Mosfilm F/X Unit

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

165 min | Italy:115 min (first release)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Black and White | Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12 | USA:TV-G (cable rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | UK:A (original rating) | Hong Kong:I | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Creative Unit of Writers & Cinema Workers

Trivia:

In Kris Kelvin's room, it is possible to see an icon painted by Andrei Rublev, the Russian painter who inspired Tarkovsky's Andrey Rublyov (1966).

Goofs:

Continuity: During Snouth's birthday party, Chris falls to his knees in front of Hari. The camera clearly shows she is barefoot. In the following long shot, she is wearing shoes.

Quotes:

Dr. Snaut: We don't want to conquer space at all. We want to expand Earth endlessly. We don't want other worlds; we want a mirror. We seek contact and will never achieve it. We are in the foolish position of a man striving for a goal he fears and doesn't want. Man needs man!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Free Enterprise (1998)

Soundtrack:

Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

A unique experience

It's now been some years since I last watched it. Still, I can't get rid of the impressions of emptiness, absurdity and impossibility to understand (the world, and the human mind) that this movie left into me. It can be violent to your mind, without showing a single violent image (by the way, I often see this movie as a counterpart to Clockwork Orange, even more than to 2001). It can stun you, with ten or twenty minutes of incomprehensible silence. It can deprive you of any certainty in the laws of nature - such as, people only die once - and thus leave you vulnerable and naked.

I know that many friends to whom I've shown this move did not understand it. So I'm not saying you'll like it. But this is possibly the best (non-action) sci-fi movie ever made.

Watch it at night, alone, when everything out of your home is dark, silent, and cold.