EndMOSFILM
Artistic Association of
Writers and Cinema Workers
NATALYA BONDARCHUK
DONATAS BANIONIS
YURI YARVET
VLADISLAV DVORZHETSKY
NIKOLAI GRINKO
ANATOLY SOLONITSYN
in
SOLARIS
Based on the science-fiction novel
by Stanislaw Lem
Screenplay by
F. GORENSHTEIN, A. TARKOVSKY
Directed by
Andrei TARKOVSKY
Director of Photography
Vadim YUSOV
Production Designer
Mikhail ROMADIN
Music by
Eduard ARTEMYEV
Sound by
Semyon LITVINOV
Used in the film
the chorale-prelude in F minor
by J.S. Bach
SOLARIS
Part One
Chris! Come here!
You're just in time.
He takes a walk every morning
for at least an hour.
He has been working too hard,
all night sometimes.
This science of solaristics of his!
He reminds me of a bookkeeper
making up his accounts.
We expected you yesterday.
He wanted to run away
when he saw me.
Hello!
How do you do?
I guess I shouldn't have bothered
you today.
How old we have grown!
I'm only now beginning to realize it.
Everything will depend on his
initial report from the station.
Every message we receive
is confusing or incomprehensible.
If he confirms for us that
the study shouldn't continue,
the station can be taken out
of Solaris's orbit.
I understand.
You promised to talk to him.
I've brought the film.
Yes, of course.
Would you mind keeping
the boy for a few days?
Anna'll be pleased to have him.
She'll have more free time now.
When does he leave?
By this time tomorrow, he'll already
be gone.
It's very pleasant here.
This house looks like my grand-
father's house. I liked it very much.
And so we built this one just like it.
I don't care much for new things.
Well, I better get going.
I've an awful lot to do.
Don't you want to see this?
I've already seen it many times.
Twenty-one days after the launch
of our expedition,
radio biologist Vishnyakov
and physicist Fechner
went on an exploration mission over
the Solaris ocean in an air vehicle.
When they failed to return,
we ordered a search.
The fog was too dense,
and we had to call the search off.
All of the rescue craft
returned to the station
except the helicopter
piloted by Burton.
He came back
only after the dark had set in.
He immediately ran to his quarters,
obviously in a state of shock.
It was so unusual
for a man
who had been flying for 11 years.
He had recovered in a couple of days,
but he would never leave the station.
And he refused to approach
the window overlooking the ocean.
While under medical care in a clinic
he offered to make a statement
of great importance,
one which he felt could affect
the whole future of Project Solaris.
Very well, let's hear his story.
Now is the time
to let Burton talk.
The first time I descended
below a thousand feet,
I had trouble maintaining altitude,
because the wind had come up.
All my efforts were required
in operating the ship.
I wasn't watching outside.
As a result, I entered the fog bank.
Was that an ordinary fog?
It was like nothing I'd ever seen
before.
It seemed to be a colloidal substance,
a gluey mass.
All the windows were coated.
Because of the fog's resistance
I began to lose altitude.
Where I supposed the sun would be,
the fog glowed like fire.
Half an hour later, I emerged
into a large open space.
The patch was round,
about a few hundred meters across.
At that moment I observed
great changes in the ocean.
The water became still,
and the surface looked transparent.
A sort of yellow mucus started
to congeal under it.
When it rose up,
it glistened like glass.
Then it began to boil,
and a frothy crust appeared on top.
The surface was brown
like burned sugar syrup.
This substance solidified into big
lumps,
giving shape to
all sorts of figures.
I was being drawn to
the fog bank,
so I had to struggle
against this force for some time.
When I looked down again,
I saw a sort of garden.
A garden?
Quiet, please.
I could see vegetation, hedges,
acacia trees, narrow paths.
All of this