Solaris (27 November 2002)
directed by Steven Soderbergh
starring George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Viola Davis, Jeremy Davies, Ulrich Tukur, John Cho, Morgan Rusler, Shane Skelton, Michael Ensign, Elpidia Carrillo, Kent Faulcon, Lauren Cohn
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MPAA rating: Studio: 20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment Script: Steven Soderbergh Based on the book by: Stanislaw Lem Music: Cliff Martinez Running time: 99 minutes Tags: astronauts; Drama; murder; novel adaptation; phychologists; Remake; rockets; Romance; Science Fiction; space; space station Tactical strength: [6/10]
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on appeal for sexuality/nudity, brief language and thematic elements
Steven Soderbergh's Solaris remakes the 1972 Russian film with the same name that Andrei Tarkovsky based off the novel by Stanislaw Lem. Tarkovsky masterfully creates odd psychological situations for his characters and frequently deals with questions about the nature of God and man's relationship to the eternal. Soderbergh's version of Solaris captures much of Tarkovsky's tone and uses many of the same techniques, such as a minimal musical score and often allowing silence to fill the scenes. Tarkovsky's characters often deliver their lines in a flat tone, as if the characters not only believe the glass is half empty, but that it's filled with poison as well. In that sense, Soderbergh has made a "happy" version of Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Solaris refers to an unusual planet around which "the company" has a space station. When things go wrong, the station captain Gibarian (Ulrich Tukur) sends a message back to Earth asking psychologist Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) to come investigate. Gibarian implies that Chris has some special background that makes his presence especially useful. We learn that Chris's wife Rheya (Natascha McElhone) committed suicide some time earlier, and Chris has just gone through the motions in his very empty apartment.
When Chris gets to the station, only two crew members have survived: Snow (Jeremy Davies) and Dr. Gordon (Viola Davis) the station physicist. Both Snow and Gordon refuse to give Chris any details about the events on the station, although Snow does says, "When you go to sleep, it's best to lock the door." Chris dreams of his dead wife Rheya and wakes up to find her physically in the room with him. He soon learns that Solaris reads the crew's thoughts and creates a physical entity that matches a character from their dreams. Chris enjoys the company of his wife, but he also realizes that Solaris created the new Rheya. She even points out that she doesn't have her own memory of events, but instead remembers events from Chris's perspective.
Solaris questions the nature of humanity. Should you consider the creatures created by Solaris human? As soon as Solaris creates these people, they exhibit free will and begin to have their own experiences. What defines humanity? Our shape? Our self-awareness? Dr. Gordon figures out a way to irradiate the Solaris apparitions and make them permanently disappear. Rheya appeals to Dr. Gordon to give her this treatment, but Chris doesn't allow the procedure. Rheya expresses several of the problems with her kind. She points out that she isn't really Rheya, but only a representation of how Chris remembers Rheya. Rheya asks Chris, "What if you have remembered me incorrectly?" She even points out that "I'm suicidal because you remember me that way."
Clooney does a good job portraying Chris. Without saying much, Clooney expresses the emptiness in his life. His demeanor changes to one less troubled while in Rheya's presence, but he also easily conveys his overall distrust of the situation. Both Viola Davis and Jeremy Davies do an excellent job portraying individuals pushed far beyond their regular endurance levels.
Soderbergh does an excellent job creating a visual structure for the film that accentuates the events. Chris's apartment on Earth feels empty. The large spaces reflect the emptiness in Chris's heart and the brown hue casts a gloomy feeling. In space, the set looked clean and austere but with little hints of trouble, like traces of blood in just about every scene. I think Soderbergh has created one of those movies that gets better with repeated viewings, and I may have to revisit this report once I have watched Solaris a few more times.
