Solaris

Solaris

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky • 1972 • Soviet Union
Starring Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Yuri Yarvet

Ground control has been receiving mysterious transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is dispatched to investigate, he experiences the same strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his consciousness. With SOLARIS, the legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky created a brilliantly original science-fiction epic that challenges our conceptions about love, truth, and humanity itself.

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Solaris
  • Solaris

    Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky • 1972 • Soviet Union
    Starring Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Yuri Yarvet

    Ground control has been receiving mysterious transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is dispatched to i...

Extras

  • SOLARIS Commentary

    Recorded in 2002, this commentary features film scholars Vida Johnson and Graham Petrie, coauthors of “The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue.”

  • Natalya Bondarchuk on SOLARIS

    Natalya Bondarchuk, the daughter of Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk (WAR AND PEACE), acted in many films after SOLARIS, but in this 2011 piece, she says Hari was her favorite role. Just eighteen at the time of production, she was director Andrei Tarkovsky’s favorite of the film’s actors. He wro...

  • Vadim Yusov on SOLARIS

    Director Andrei Tarkovsky relied on cinematographer Vadim Yusov for the stunning images of THE STEAMROLLER AND THE VIOLIN, IVAN’S CHILDHOOD, ANDREI RUBLEV, and finally, SOLARIS. In this 2011 interview, Yusov reflects on their relationship, Tarkovsky’s perfectionism, and their meeting in Italy bef...

  • Mikhail Romadin on SOLARIS

    Although SOLARIS was occasionally marketed as the Soviet 2001, director Andrei Tarkovsky actually thought of his film as 2001’s polar opposite—it emphasized humanity and morality over special effects and science fiction. For the creation of SOLARIS’s distinctive look, Tarkovsky turned to art dire...

  • Eduard Artemyev on scoring SOLARIS

    One of SOLARIS’s most distinctive features is its innovative combination of musical styles. Eduard Artemyev’s score contrasts Earth’s culture and family relations with the impersonal, abstract Solaris Ocean. In this 2011 piece, Artemyev discusses his working relationship with director Andrei Tark...

  • Stanislaw Lem on SOLARIS

    One person who decidedly did not like Andrei Tarkovsky’s film SOLARIS was Stanislaw Lem, the author of the source novel. The film explores completely different themes from Lem’s philosophically oriented science fiction. This excerpt from a Polish television documentary addresses Lem’s attempts to...

  • SOLARIS Deleted Scenes

    Director Andrei Tarkovsky cut SOLARIS significantly before the film went to Cannes in 1972. Long thought to be lost, the original version was, in fact, in the Russian film archive Gosfilmofond. Presented here is a sequence from the original version that differs from Tarkovsky’s final cut.