Solyaris (1972)

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers:

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

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

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)

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:

Akasaka, Minato, Japan

Company:

Creative Unit of Writers & Cinema Workers

Trivia:

A print was screened at the Cinema Village theater in New York City in the mid-1980s that combined an English-dubbed version of the film with sequences from a Russian-language print. This version also featured cheesy 1970s-era titles. Around this time, this was considered the most complete version of the film available in the United States. It was not until the re-opening of New York's Film Forum theatre in 1989 that the complete and uncut Russian-language version was shown there theatrically.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kris is standing in the rain near the beginning of the film the camera tilts down to the table to show a coffee cup and various other items. The cut to the next shot of Kris shows him to have moved (which seems reasonable as a small amount of time has elapsed) but all the items on the table are now in a different configuration.

Quotes:

Kris Kelvin: There are so few of us!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Free Enterprise (1998)

Soundtrack:

Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ

One of the greatest

If you compare this movie to the Lem's novel there are a lot of differences. But don't compare them. The novel and movie have their own lives. I personally prefer movie. Tarkovsky is going beyond the limits described by Lem. It is not only the problem of Solaris planet and the relationship between main heroes. Tarkovsky reminds everybody that the origin of our problem is us. And all kind of the most important life keys you can find inside yourselves. The great Swedish director Ingemar Bergman said, that Tarkovsky is in the "room" where I just started to knock. You should see this movie if you want to know what is real you and what you really want. The movie is not the answer, but it is the step to your new understanding of your life.