21 June 2021

International Yoga Day

May Yoga help us keep our mind eternally clean and our body healthy to enjoy the ultimate gift one can ever receive in this world that of our own being and enjoy it to the core . 

 

"Solaris" The Film

 

Solaris:  A review

Introduction

“Solaris” a 1972 science fiction film directed by the Russian Director Andrei Tarkovsky is based on a Russian novel by the same name written in 1961 by Stanislaw Lem. Both Tarkovsky and Fridrikh Gorenshstein co-wrote the script for the screen adaption which is considered to be the greatest science fiction movie ever made by some critics in spite of the later decades films made with awesome new age technology. Director Tarkovsky had always felt the modern/western science fiction movies are focused on technological invention; in Solaris his attempt was to give an emotional depth to the genre. Eduard Artemyev, the music director had used a mixture of music, electronic for the space and classical for earth theme which adds very well to the story. John Sebastian Bach’s chorale prelude is the central theme while the lead female character (Hari) has her own sub theme based on Bach’s which is played at the death scene of the character and also at the end of the story. Produced by MosFilm the film runs for 2 hours and 46 minutes (166 minutes) and is edited by Lyudmila Feiginova.

The Story

The bare minimum crew on the space station orbiting a ‘fictional’ oceanic planet Solaris is facing a serious emotional crisis which has almost stopped their work. Psychologist Kris Kevin is sent to the station to study the crisis and decide whether the station should be continued. Unfortunately he too had to encounter the same emotional crisis the other three crew members are finding themselves in.

Before Kris was flown out to join the mission he chose to spend his last day with his elderly father. He was joined there by a retired space pilot Berton who had been on Solaris Mission but was sent back when he reported seeing a four meter tall child on the surface of the water. He was thought to be hallucinating. Now the crew at the station is reporting similar strange sightings.

On arrival onboard the station, Kris was surprised to receive a cold welcome besides he was not even talked to properly. Both Dr. Snaut and Dr. Sartorius seemed evasive and preferred to stay in their own rooms. He was told, Dr. Gibarian whom Kris knew personally has committed suicide. He also noticed the presence of other persons in the crew rooms.

Kris gets an idea of what is going on in the unkept station when he finds a warning message left for him by Dr. Gibarian before he died. After a disturbed sleep Kris wakes up to find his dead wife Hari in his room. Loving and caring as she always was she tells him she has no idea how she got there. Terrified but holding on to his presence of mind  Kris cleverly gets her into a rocket and launches her into space.

Later Dr. Snaut who upon realizing what has happened to Kris tells him the visitors started appearing after the scientists started conducting radiation experiment using X-Rays on the surface of the planet.

Hari re-appears again in the same evening and Kris accepts her calmly and they fall asleep in an embrace. In the morning Hari panic when she didn’t see Kris around and injures herself in an attempt to come out of the closed door. Though Kris tried to keep her as a secret from both the scientists they know already and explain to him the ocean water of Solaris has created Hari out of his memory composing her from “Neutrino Systems” which makes her think and behave like humans though she is not one. They are capable of healing and resurrecting themselves. It is possible to destroy them through an explosion of light and energy, a model Dr. Sartorius had developed.

Dr. Snaut proposes to beam Kelvin’s “brain-wave” pattern at Solaris hoping the planet will understand them and stop the disturbing apparitions. Meanwhile, Hari gradually becomes independent. Since the visitors or guests do not need sleep Hari wander around at night and meets both the scientists. Dr. Sartorius tells Hari that original Hari had committed suicide ten years ago. During the birthday celebration of Dr. Snaut during a drunken philosophical argument among the three and trying to break the emotional attachment Kris is having with unreal Hari Dr. Sartorius tells her that she is not ‘REAL’. Distressed with the realization she drinks liquid oxygen and kills herself which eventually gives Kris a chance to witness resurrection of a being made of Neutrino Systems as Hari comes back to life.

The Ocean surface of Solaris turns violent and takes the shape of a funnel. As a result Kris becomes very feverish and falls into a deep sleep. He dreams about his mother which somehow makes Hari uncomfortable and makes her recollect that she never liked her. On waking up Kris finds out from the other scientists that Hari has been destroyed on her request. Dr. Snaut reads her farewell note to Kris. The note says she is leaving him to save him.

Ever since Kris’s brain wave has been beamed on Solaris the ocean becomes calmer and an island starts forming on its surface. The film ends when Kris meets with his elderly father as a return to childhood but as the camera zoom out we are left intrigued as we see the Dacha house is on an island surrounded by the sea.

Conclusion

The film received a grand reception from the public and ran for 15 years without interruption in the USSR. Even though many movies had been made lately in the science fiction genre ‘Solaris’ is considered as one of the greatest ever made in that category. The author Stanislaw Lem was furious and never accepted the alterations made in the screen adaption, the film hold by itself as a parallel creative screen art. Andrei Tarkovsky had used actors from different ethnicity and regions to add to the presentation of the story.

The characters of the story are brought to life on screen by;

Donatas Banionis (Lithuanian) as Kris Kelvin

Natalya Bondarchuk (Russian) as Hari

Juri Jarvet (Estonian) as Dr. Snaut

Vladislav Dvorzhetsky as Space Pilot Henri Berton

Nikolai Grinko (Ukranian) as Kevin’s father

Anatoly Solonitsyn (Russian) as Dr. Sartorius

Olga Barnet as Kevin’s Mother

It was Natalya Bondarchuk who had introduced Tarkovsky to the novel while they were still students at the State Institute of Cinematography. While Tarkovsky was considering filming the novel Natalya did not come as a first choice, later as it turned out Tarkovsky was so impressed by her performance he had written in his diary, “Natalya B has outshone everybody.

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Available on YouTube in two parts:

Part 1  (Click Here)

Part 2  (Click Here)