Solaris

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Solaris

PG

Released Mar 20, 1972

2h 49m

Sci-Fi

Drama

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Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

67 Reviews

89%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.

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Critics Consensus

Solaris is a haunting, meditative film that uses sci-fi to raise complex questions about humanity and existence.

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Mark Olsen

Los Angeles Times

The film has a hypnotic pull, drawing the viewer deeper and deeper into its enigmatic adventure by crafting a world all its own.

May 18, 2017

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Clayton Dillard

Slant Magazine

Andrei Tarkovsky's pacing is less moved by narrative detail than thematic and metaphorical suggestion.

Rated: 2.5/4

May 6, 2017

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

Tarkovsky's speculative visions enfold the mysteries of death and rebirth, the lost paradise of childhood, the power of art to define identity, the menace of science as destructive vanity ...

Jun 16, 2014

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JD Duran

InSession Film

The film's pacing will be a drudge for some audiences and perhaps Tarkovsky could have trimmed back a bit but the patience he demands has purpose. The imagery, details and spiritual beauty of this film will have a big payoff...

Rated: A

Aug 1, 2024

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Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Tarkovsky, in this moment, and throughout the runtime, forces us to face the fact that we are so focused on our great triumphs, that we forget the people we have lost and where our focus should be.

Rated: A-

Feb 28, 2024

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…as philosophical as sci-fi gets, Solaris is a meditation, deeply rewarding on a spiritual level…

Rated: 5/5

Aug 31, 2023

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Sam N

I expected Soviet 2001: A Space Odyssey but got a therapy session with a sentient ocean instead.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/04/24

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Audience Member

Far too artsy for me. Couldn't find the motivation to keep paying attention to this one.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/22/24

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Der I

Really interesting philosophical questions (what is real, how to deal with your own thoughts), but in a very slow manner. You have to be prepared for nearly three hours of no action.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/06/24

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Joseph M

I yawned into my trousers.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

08/28/24

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Fer S

I did not enjoy it. I thought the plot took a disappointing and not interesting path. I found it unnecessarily long. The ending was good, but it did not make up for everything else. There was also one scene that was totally unrealistic. Would have been nice if Tarkovsky had asked an engineer how hot a rocket's exhaust actually is. The acting is good and the scenography was nice.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/01/24

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Matt W

Feels like a high school art/movie project. It has it all: Poor special effects; characters randomly changing their minds mid-scene; inexplicable scene jumps; a very long scene of a car just going along a freeway; another of the protagonist walking around a lake; another just slowly scanning a painting; a short and pointless zero gravity scene; an astronaut who packs cigarettes and home movies; unexplained loud off-camera noises; burn makeup that looks like they just glued some plastic bubbles on the actor’s face; an “alien” planet that is clearly a bit of Earth filmed out the window of a domestic airline flight; impenetrable symbolism; and some of the greatest over-acting and under-acting you’ll ever see in the same place. By the 2 and a half hour mark you’re begging for it to be over, yet it has new lows to plumb. It’s a hard work for the viewer to sit through the self-indulgent direction to get to the central themes and a few great lines that aren’t really all that profound. One minor saving grace is the very end, without giving it away, its prescient in the way it foreshadows how an AI (or in the movie’s case, an alien intelligence) might have a warped and mis-edited view of being human. It’s uncanny.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/21/24

Full Review

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Andrei Tarkovsky

Director

Natalya Bondarchuk

Khari

Donatas Banionis

Kris Kelvin

Jüri Järvet

Dr. Snaut

Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy

Berton

Nikolay Grinko

Kelvin's father

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Synopsis

A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Producer: Viacheslav Tarasov
Screenwriter: Fridrikh Gorenshteyn, Stanislaw Lem, Andrei Tarkovsky
Distributor: Image Entertainment Inc., Criterion Collection, Fox Lorber
Production Co: Unit Four
Rating: PG
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Original Language: Russian
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 20, 1972, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 12, 2017
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 21, 2009
Runtime: 2h 49m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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