Slow, but ravishingly beautiful and charged with a real poignancy.
Solaris(Солярис)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Soviet Union · 1972
Rated PG · 2h 47m
Director Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Anatoliy Solonitsyn
Genre Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Sent to investigate the mysterious emotional crises of the cosmonauts on a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, psychologist Kris Kelvin soon starts to suffer from the same issues as the crew members, navigating the situation while struggling to determine what is and is not real.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Stands with the greatest science-fiction movies ever made.
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
His (Tarkovsky's) pictures, and his sounds -- such as the symphonic drip of raindrops in a wooded pond -- tell more than just the immediate story; they rejuvenate the mind.
The most pop film the great Russian filmmaker ever made.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Tarkovsky's eerie mystic parable is given substance by the filmmaker's boldly original grasp of film language and the remarkable performances by all the principals.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
A dazzlingly imaginative work with awesome production values and special effects that bear comparison to those of "2001."
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
An amazing celluloid poem by a filmmaker whom Ingmar Bergman called "the greatest." He very nearly was. He was also, perhaps, too pure a creator and reckless a citizen to survive unscathed.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Routinely called Tarkovsky's reply to Kubrick's "2001" -- But Kubrick's film is outward, charting man's next step in the universe, while Tarkovsky's is inward, asking about the nature and reality of the human personality.
Users who liked this film also liked
Breathless
(À bout de souffle)
When you discover the dirty truth about the person you love...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1960
- Director Jean-Luc Godard
- Cast Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri-Jacques Huet, Van Doude
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Battleship Potemkin
(Броненосец Потёмкин)
Revolution is the only lawful, equal, effectual war. It was in Russia that this war was declared and begun.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1925
- Director Sergei Eisenstein
- Cast Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Grigori Aleksandrov, Ivan Bobrov, Mikhail Gomorov, Aleksandr Levshin
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, FlixFling, Klassiki, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Classix, Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video, Kino Now, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Public Domain Movies
The Shining
A masterpiece of modern horror.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 1980
- Director Stanley Kubrick
- Cast Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Philip Stone
- Genre Horror, Thriller
- Available on Showtime Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A wacky take on the adventures of the legendary King Arthur.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1975
- Director Terry Jones
- Cast Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Persona
Two separate people. Will they combine into one?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden • 1966
- Director Ingmar Bergman
- Cast Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand, Jörgen Lindström
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Andrei Rublev
(Андрей Рублёв)
An expansive Russian drama following the life of revered icon painter Andrei Rublev.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1966
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko, Nikolai Sergeyev, Irma Raush
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV
Mulholland Drive
An aspiring actress tries to help a woman with amnesia solve the mystery of her identity.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 2001
- Director David Lynch
- Cast Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya, Brent Briscoe
- Genre Thriller, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Criterion Channel, Showtime Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Nostalgia
(Ностальгия)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Soviet Union • 1983
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Oleg Yankovskiy, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano, Patrizia Terreno, Laura De Marchi, Delia Boccardo
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on OVID, Metrograph, Amazon Video, Kino Now, Kanopy
Mirror
(Зеркало)
The thoughts, emotions, and memories of 40 year-old Alexei, reflecting on his life experiences in different time periods.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1975
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev, Larisa Tarkovskaya, Alla Demidova, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Plex, Plex Player
Stalker
(Сталкер)
A stalker takes two men into a mysterious place in which deep seeded desires are granted.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1979
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko, Alisa Freyndlikh, Natasha Abramova, Faime Jurno
- Genre Science Fiction, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
Mr. Nobody
In 2092, humanity has achieved immortality. 118-year-old Nemo is the last mortal man on Earth.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Belgium, Germany, Canada • 2009
- Director Jaco Van Dormael
- Cast Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh-Dan Pham, Rhys Ifans, Natasha Little
- Genre Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction
- Available on Hulu, Hoopla, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, FlixFling, Plex Player
Ivan's Childhood
(Иваново детство)
Based on a short story by Vladimir Bogomolov, the film tells the story of an orphan whose family is killed by the invading German forces during World War I,
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1962
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Nikolay Grinko, Yevgeni Zharikov, Valentina Malyavina, Irma Raush
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Plex, Plex Player
The Handmaiden
(아가씨)
Her heart may not be the only thing stolen.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2016
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Kim Hae-sook, Moon So-ri
- Genre Drama, Romance, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, FilmBox+, Vudu
Solaris is one of my all-time favorite films, even though it did not start this way. In fact, it was a challenging first watch: I felt as if Tarkovsky wanted me to feel the numb, desensitized way that I did when I tried to have a normal conversation with friends right after I saw it for the first time. I will never forget the highway scene— a winding, five-minute long, trance-inducing sequence that is so harrowing after multiple rewatches. Many have likened it to the more grounded, human, washed-out version of Kubrick's Stargate sequence in '2001: A Space Odyssey,' and I feel a very similar sense of dread and uncertainty when I watch it. But to get more at the core of the film and the events that transpire on the Solaris space station, I feel a palpable sense of grief thinking back to Kris' and Hari's relationship: a translucent gossamer of past memories and interpersonal friction that haunts Kris until he accepts it. For those watching this film who have experienced the loss of a loved one or a close friend due to suicide, you get it when you see his character arc and you appreciate the sensitivity Tarkovsky has by lingering with these characters. After all, once you close your laptop screen or leave whatever theater that might (very fortunately) happen to be showing 'Solaris,' these characters, too, are just memories that settle into your mind as long-lost, never-quite-real but never-quite-fake either figments of the past. It's the nature of cinema. Watching this movie is very much a litmus-test for where you are in your life, and where others are as well. I have a friend who did not enjoy it in the slightest bit, in part because he felt the language barrier didn't allow these characters' words to nestle in his heart intimately like they might for a native Russian speaker. In part, because it is (as I believe Tarkovsky himself sometimes jokingly referred to his films) a "long, boring film." I welcome the chance to sit and meditate with "long, boring films" like these, but I understand that not everybody is or that it can be fatiguing to constantly be doing that. This film, to me, is so many things: a eulogy, a love-letter, a lab report, a manifesto, a prayer, and so on. But the nebulous web of memories that constitutes what I think is 'Solaris' may not match what your recollection of it at all, and, well, that's okay.