A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.
This complex and sometimes very beautiful film is about humanity but hardly at all about politics.
– Richard Eder,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
fresh:
It's a smart response to the superficial excesses of the sci-fi genre.
– Dave Calhoun,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
fresh:
More an exploration of inner than of outer space, 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.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
30 May 2007
rotten:
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.
– Jay Cocks,
TIME Magazine,
23 May 2011
fresh:
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 ...