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The Appropriate Tune: 'Do You Love Me?' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
We saw Svankmajer, so how about another blast from the past? The last time we saw Andrei Tarkovsky on this list was with his 1979 film Stalker, way back in Marathon ‘16. Stalker was not only one of the best movies I watched that year, it was one of the best movies I’ve seen period, so much so that I think subconsciously avoided doing another of his films for fear that it was a one-time burst of genius and that I would be disappointed. A potent combination of paranoia and pretension, not fit for an unpaid amaetur film review blogger of my station. So let’s return to Tarkovsky, and a film so acclaimed that Hollywood tried to adapt it into a George Clooney vehicle, truly the highest honor one can bestow upon a film. Besides making it a background cameo for Space Jam 2 that is.
Released in 1972, Solaris was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, written by Tarkovsky and Fridikh Gorenshtein, and produced by Vyacheslav Tarasov through Mosfilm, based on the novel of the same name by Stanislaw Lem. Donatas Banionis stars as Dr. Kris Kelvin, a psychologist who agrees to undertake a visit to the space station orbiting the planet Solaris, a world of vast oceans and dense fog. Solaris has been something of a black eye for the scientific community over the years; Some have claimed that Solaris is an intelligent, thinking being, but no one has managed to prove it and the project is on its last legs, the station now housing only three scientists from the dozens that once resided in it before, with reports bordering on nonsense. Kelvin’s word could be the make or break moment.
When Kelvin arrives at the satellite however, he finds a station in disrepair and one of the scientists dead, suicide. The cause? Solaris, in a fashion. It seems that after an experiment using x-rays Solaris suddenly began to react, and the results were ‘the guests’ -- thoughts and memories pulled from the dreams of the scientists and given form. Not hallucinations, but beings with a tangible, physical form. A revelation that throws Kelvin through a loop, especially after he comes face to face with Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk), his wife that had been dead for the past 10 years. Is this a happy reunion, or another tragedy waiting to happen?
Before watching Solaris I saw a comment that said something to the effect of ‘Tarkovsky looks up at the stars and sees humanity longing for connection’, and there's definitely something to that. Or rather a longing in the face of failure. Mankind tries to connect with Solaris, which leads to the experiments which spawn ‘the guests’. Kelvin longs to reconnect with his wife which leads to Solaris spawning ‘Hari’, a simulacrum based on his memories of her. And what happens when Hari learns of her nature? Is she still Hari or has she become someone else entirely? Is this love, or just a memory of love? Is there a difference? It seems that Kelvin, and by extension the audience, are doomed to stumble around in the dark in regards to that question.
You could also pair this up with Stalker, although they’re not quite the same. Stalker dealt in the loss of faith, while Solaris is more the desire for it. Kelvin wants to give himself over to belief, he wants to be absorbed into the fantasy where his life hasn’t taken a downward turn. Whether or not this is a good thing I suppose is debatable; The final scene gives the impression of a sinister turn, but Tarkovsky spent a better part of two hours questioning what being ‘real’ or ‘human’ actually means, so I suppose it’s up to the viewer’s interpretation. More so than Stalker I’d say, with its definitely uplifting ending.
Visually Solaris shares the most similarities with 2001: A Space Odyssey, although perhaps unsurprisingly Tarkovsky doesn’t really hit the special effects as hard as Kubrick. Then again Solaris doesn’t really need the flash, as the science fiction is more philosophical than theoretical, and it conveys the feeling of a run down space station just fine as it is. I especially like the way Tarkovsky portrays the planet of Solaris. It’s incredibly simple, a color filter and some fog effects, but it captures the feel of an alien world.
Solaris gets an easy recommendation. Where other science fiction films of the period could be gleefully esoteric and obscurantist in its messaging, Tarkovsky is clear without being blunt and meditative without being pondering. While it didn’t affect me as strongly as Stalker, I’d read Lem’s Solaris back in college so I knew what to expect to some degree and also Stalker was just that powerful of a movie, Solaris is a fantastic film and a must-have for any aspiring cinephile's watch queue. The acting, the atmosphere, the writing, it’s about as good as you can get. Cuddle up with the alien recreation of your dead loved ones this Halloween and enjoy.
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