
The movie begins as psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) is readying to leave Earth for the spacestation orbiting Solaris. He's been called upon to make a judgment regarding the mental state of the crew of the station, and whether or not the station should even continue. Humans have been studying the planet for years, with no true findings to present. When Kelvin arrives, he is not greeted by anyone, and the station seems to be in a rapidly declining state of neglect. He finds that his friend Dr. Gibarian has committed suicide in his room, but has left Kelvin a cryptic video message in which he insists that he's not insane. He is given a vague warning by Dr. Snaut, one of the two remaining crew members, that should he run into anything strange, he should stay calm and not overreact. Kelvin doesn't understand the message until that night, when he wakes from sleeping to discover a woman in his room, despite his barricaded door. The woman is his wife, Hari (played by the mysteriously attractive Natalya Bondarchuk). He's taken aback by her appearance, because Hari had comitted suicide many years before. The next morning, Dr. Snaut is more forthcoming with Kelvin, now that he has been visited by a "Guest". Snaut explains that all the crew members were visited by Guests after they tried to x-ray the surface of Solaris. They theorize that Solaris may not be just a planet, but some sort of sentient being beyond their comprehension. The Guests seem to be manifestations of people the crew members want to see, created by Solaris.

Movies like Solaris are what sci-fi movies are supposed to be. We get fed a lot of the same sci-fi over and over again, but sometimes a movie like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Children of Men, or Dark City comes along and reminds us that ideas are what makes science-fiction so great. Sci-fi can tackle any subject in any way, because it is not tied down to anything, it can create its own world. On the other end of the spectrum, sci-fi can get too bogged down in ideas, and forget to create real people with whom the audience can identify. Solaris comes along and gives us what is often missing from sci-fi, humanity and ideas.
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