Solaris

 

Solaris (1976)

NEUTRAL
Various
Movie Reviews92%
NR
1972, Drama, 2h 49m
RT Critics’ Score: 92% (UNBIASED)
RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: 5 wins & 4 nominations

 

Critics Consensus

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

Audience Consensus

Solaris is like a deep sea dive into the unknown, with its hypnotic pull and enigmatic adventure. Tarkovsky’s speculative visions explore the mysteries of life and death, the power of art, and the dangers of science. It’s a film that challenges and offers few easy answers, but ultimately leaves you feeling like you’ve been on a journey through space and time. And if you’re looking for a slow-moving, seat-squeaking bore, well, you might want to look elsewhere.
 
Movie Trailer

Movie Info

Storyline

The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the facts are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife who has been dead for ten years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence.

 
Production Company(ies)
Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet Corp. Goodmovies Entertainment,
 
Distributor
Image Entertainment Inc., Fox Lorber, Criterion Collection
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Akasaka, Minato, Japan
 
MPAA / Certificate
PG
 
Year of Release
1972
 

Technical Specs
  • Color:
    Color
    Black and White
  • Sound mix:
    Mono
  • Aspect ratio:
    2.35 : 1
  • Runtime:
    2h 49m
  • Language(s):
    Russian, German
  • Country of origin:
    United States
  • Release date:
    Release Date (Theaters): Mar 20, 1972 Wide
    Release Date (Streaming): Apr 9, 2003

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)

 

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: $135,289
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,073,792
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,586
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 117,098
 
US/Canada gross: $22,168
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $175,948
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,564
US/Canada opening weekend: $11,537
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $91,569
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,964
 
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): RUR 1,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA

 
Movie Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew

Natalya BondarchukDonatas BanionisJüri JärvetVladislav DvorzhetskiyNikolay Grinko
Natalya Bondarchuk
Donatas Banionis
Jüri Järvet
Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Nikolay Grinko
Khari
Kris Kelvin
Dr. Snaut
Berton
Kelvin’s father
Natalya Bondarchuk – Khari
Donatas Banionis – Kris Kelvin
Jüri Järvet – Dr. Snaut
Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy – Berton
Nikolay Grinko – Kelvin’s father
Anatoliy Solonitsyn – Dr. Sartorius

 

Andrei TarkovskyFridrikh GorenshteynViacheslav Tarasov
Andrei Tarkovsky
Fridrikh Gorenshteyn
Viacheslav Tarasov
Director
Writer
Producer
Producer
Producer

Director(s)
Andrei Tarkovsky
 
Writer(s)
Fridrikh Gorenshteyn, Stanislaw Lem, Andrei Tarkovsky
 
Producer(s)
Viacheslav Tarasov

 
Movie Reviews & Awards
Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
5 wins & 4 nominations
 
Academy Awards

 

Top Reviews
Mark OlsenClayton DillardRichard BrodyRob HumanickJay Cocks
Mark Olsen
Clayton Dillard
Richard Brody
Rob Humanick
Jay Cocks
Los Angeles Times
Slant Magazine
New Yorker
TIME Magazine
Empire Magazine
SOLARIS
  All Critics (64) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (5)
  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
 
  Mark Olsen
  Los Angeles Times
  TOP CRITIC
  Andrei Tarkovsky’s pacing is less moved by narrative detail than thematic and metaphorical suggestion.
 
  May 6, 2017 | Rating: 2.5/4
 
  Clayton Dillard
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  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 …
 
  June 16, 2014
 
  Richard Brody
  New Yorker
  TOP CRITIC
  Proves the yin to Kubrick’s yang, not out of contrarian longing, but because that was the form best suited for the content Tarkovsky wanted to explore.
 
  May 24, 2011 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Rob Humanick
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  The effects are scanty, the drama gloomy, the philosophy of the film thick as a cloud of ozone. The plot is not all that original either.
 
  May 23, 2011
 
  Jay Cocks
  TIME Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Its discussion of passion and obsession, regret and reconciliation is consistently challenging and offers few easy answers.
 
  May 23, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
 
  David Parkinson
  Empire Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Solaris exists on several spatial, temporal, and fantastic levels at once.
 
  February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  A scientist-sweating, slow moving, seat-squeaking bore.
 
  June 30, 2021
 
  Ruth Batchelor
  Los Angeles Free Press
  Ultimately I was really disappointed in Solaris but I am not sorry that I watched it.
 
  April 1, 2021
 
  Sarah Brinks
  Battleship Pretension
  It’s as if the film is a living, thinking thing: A reflection of what you want when you need it.
 
  August 10, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Michael J. Casey
  Boulder Weekly
  Perfectly immaculate, using the chilliness of the way the location is framed to offset the profoundly human story being told there.
 
  May 15, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Tim Brayton
  Alternate Ending
  A profoundly beautiful and disturbing Russian film that reaches far beyond the realms of the future depicted in Kubrick’s 2001.
 
  October 29, 2019
 
  Lucie K. Scheuer
  Los Angeles Free Press…

 
Movie Plot & More
Plot
The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the facts are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife who has been dead for ten years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
 
Movie Links Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes

Links
Wikipedia: Go to Wiki
Rotten Tomatoes: Go to RT

 
Where to Watch

Where to Watch

 
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