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Solaris (2002)

Adapted from the 1972 Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, which was adapted from the book by Stanislaw Lem, Solaris is a new take on the story of a guilt-ridden man and his visit to the space station that won’t let him forget the tumultuous circumstances and tragic end of his relationship with his wife, Rhea.

At the beginning of the movie we learn that Solaris is a planet currently being orbited by an American space station. Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) is contacted to investigate the strange, ominous events surrounding the mission to Solaris.

When Kelvin boards the space station, he finds that the only surviving members of the mission are an eccentric man and a paranoid woman, neither of whom can provide much information about what’s happening on the space station until Kelvin "sees for himself."

With a haunting soundtrack and a memorizing, almost magically enchanting performance by Natascha McElhone, as Rhea, we sink slowly into the mind of Chris and his doomed relationship with his late wife.

The film is carried almost entirely by Clooney and McElhone, who are responsible for trapping the audience inside the downward spiral of their relationship and the inescapable mental instabilities that lead Rhea to self-harming tendencies, emotional unavailability and, ultimately, Chris’ guilt about needing too much from her to actually help her. Clooney plays a convincing widower wounded by the loss of his wife and the circumstances that led to it and McElhone is the beautiful, loving wife that we all want to see saved.

Solaris is more than a science fiction ghost story; it's a powerful, haunting tale about human need, guilt, frailty, and finally, redemption.

Written by: Savannah Bobo

Reviewers Rating: 8
Reader's Rating: 7.17
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