Andrej Tarkovskij
Solaris

Tarkovsky does not have a seat in the Olympus of great directors; he has an armchair, therefore "Solaris" (1972), being his most famous work (debates could arise whether it is also the most beautiful), must be labeled as a masterpiece.

Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem, this film arrived in Italy horrendously cut by over forty minutes (enough to provoke the wrath of the director himself) and was dubbed in the worst way possible (the actors have strong dialectal accents). Throughout the West, it was advertised as the "Russian answer to 2001: A Space Odyssey," possibly capturing the scale of the film but misleading the audience from the themes addressed, which are quite different from Kubrick's work. As a reminder, in the original language, the astronauts in "2001" all had distinct accents depending on their provenance, while the only one with a perfect pronunciation was the computer. In Italian, this was not conveyed, and I suspect they tried to "make up" for it in this Russian film, without realizing, however, that in the case of "Solaris" the operation is absolutely harmful and inappropriate. Luckily, for some years now, there has been an uncut version on DVD, which restores the long cut sequence (the prologue on Earth) and other brief scenes here and there "forgotten" in the past.

Plot: Psychologist Kris is sent to a scientific station orbiting the planet Solaris, whose crew is experiencing severe, undefined psychological problems. Of the entire expedition, only two have survived. After spending the last significant days on Earth, balancing work and family (father and aunt), the protagonist departs and reaches his destination. He soon discovers that the ocean of Solaris, bombarded by radiation from the space station, has "responded" by causing the scientists' thoughts and memories to materialize. Kris's mind conjures the memory of his wife, who died long ago, which creates significant issues aboard the spaceship. Gradually, the materializations become increasingly overwhelming and Solaris, a kind of thinking planet, takes over, leading to an important and reflective finale that I don’t want to spoil for those who haven't seen it yet.

The film proceeds with extreme calm, but in its length (165 minutes) there is not a single superfluous frame. Science fiction is a pretext for a painful and deep inner journey that digs into the apparent certainties of man, confronts him with his desires and aspirations, and brings up the great systems. The most beautiful and evocative shots belong to the first part of the film and depict a quiet, enigmatic, yet sinister nature, and the black and white sequence of the highway (cut in the first Italian version) is striking.

"Solaris" is a committed and demanding film, fundamentally devoid of action where science fiction is merely a setting to analyze the human soul. I do not recommend watching it if you just want to have fun, but at least once in a lifetime "Solaris" must be seen, like "2001: A Space Odyssey," for that matter.