IMDb > Solyaris (1972)
Solyaris
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Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   17,656 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 1% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Fridrikh Gorenshtein (screenplay) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Solaris on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 March 1972 (Soviet Union) more
Plot:
The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence... more | full synopsis
Awards:
2 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(5 articles)
Top 10 Films of 2009 so far.
 (From SoundOnSight. 17 August 2009, 11:33 PM, PDT)

Blade Runner Named Top Sci-fi Movie
 (From WENN. 5 August 2009, 5:11 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
The magic of not knowing where we're going.... more (171 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited 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)
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Solaris (UK) (USA)
Солярис (Soviet Union: Russian title)
more
Runtime:
165 min | Italy:115 min (first release)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Two character's names vary a great deal in the different versions of this story. The female character is known as "Rhea" in the novel, "Hari/Khari" in the subtitles and Russian dialogue, "Carrie" in the English dubbing, and "Rheya" in Steven Soderbergh's remake. The Doctor is known as "Snow" in the English translation of the novel and Soderbergh version, "Snaut" in the subtitles and Russian dialogue, and "Stroud/Strowd" in the English dub. more
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. more
Quotes:
Hari: Did you ever think of me?
Kris Kelvin: Only when I was sad.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Silent Hill 2 (2001) (VG) more
Soundtrack:
Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ more

FAQ

How did Gibarian die?
In which city was the busy traffic scene shot?
Who composed the background music of this movie and what is the name of that?
more
19 out of 20 people found the following comment useful.
The magic of not knowing where we're going...., 22 March 2006
10/10
Author: mu-kau from United Kingdom

Like the majority of reviewers here, I rate this film as one of the most profound viewing experiences I can remember. While the IMDb guidelines recommend avoiding reference to specific reviews of Solaris within this section, I strongly believe that there is much to be learnt about this movie by evaluating those reviews as a whole.

This is clearly either a love or a hate movie. Those who love it describe in detail its effect on them, the feelings it evokes, its significance and the depth of its philosophical enquiry. Those who hate it largely describe it as too slow-paced; boring.

What matters to me about this film which I first watched as mesmerised 15 year old is that it is almost entirely the antithesis of Classical Hollywood cinema. It came from behind the Iron Curtain (that dark place whose strange and hidden 'otherness' has, like the plot of any modern movie, now also been laid wide open by capitalist 'democracy'). Its actors were unknown - more like real people than the celebrities the West populates its movies with. Its pace was slow, mesmeric, hypnotic and atmospheric. It was completely free of the kind of 'good triumphs over evil' motif that riddles Hollywood film-making, where 'good' is white-ness, wealth, youth, Westernness and so on.

The pleasure of Solaris was that I didn't know what I was watching. I didn't know who I was watching. I didn't know the culture it reflected and - most importantly - I didn't know what was going to happen.

Perhaps its only in re-watching the 1971 Solaris that it becomes apparent to me that somewhere along the way we have been stripped of the right to not know; robbed of the true narrative thrill of being led into the dark, magical forest of the unknown.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Solyaris (1972)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Pictures upon the wall bermarx
Film Stock henryf1
When did they add the 'Y'? Stapledon
Tarkovsky's message in his Solaris? deeveed
For all those confused by seeing a black man in a russian movie tycho_7
Relativistic effects in travel to the research station? acrh2
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