I haven’t seen a Tarkovsky film in quite a few years, but he was one of the first art house directors that I really learnt to love, by watching Zerkalo (1975) something like four years ago. I also in fairly quick succession watched Andrei Rublev (1966) and Stalker (1979). After that though I never got around to watch another Tarkovsky film, although I consider all these three masterpieces. It might also have something to do with people in general being less enthusiastic about his other films, although I rarely hear anything bad about his other films, just not as much hype as the three aforementioned.
Tarkovsky is probably the most interesting director I’ve encountered. His films strike a balance between entering the real and the lucid. They sway effortlessly between dream reality, and are driven by an intangible hypnotic pace. His films also contain some of the most astonishing cinematography in cinema; his colour films contain vibrant images, while his black and white images are dark and have a strange resonance in me. Solaris contain all these things, although perhaps a little less refined than in the other films. There are certainly beautiful moments, and the pace is fantastic. What makes this film interesting in a very different way than his other films though is its mystery. Sure, all his films are mysterious to some degree, but those times it is rather the mystery of something intangible. Here the mystery is specific, the ocean of the planet Solaris. Stalker also had its mystery of the Zone, but in Solaris the mystery is much more apparent, and in many ways more immediate. The atmosphere aboard the station is fantastic, and the mood of tension is there constantly. You feel the uncertain threat of the mysterious ocean; this uncertainty is one of the most important things in the film. The film in true Tarkovsky spirit dwells between the realms of dream and reality, although the lines are clearer cut here than in the other Tarkovsky films, but towards the end the film does allow itself to become somewhat more ambiguous.
The themes in this film are also a bit clearer than in Tarkovsky’s other films, although it is never close to bordering the obvious. It deals with themes such as love, existentialism, family and, perhaps most importantly, mans understanding of the universe and himself. These themes are developed throughout, and Tarkovsky’s usual symbolism makes an appearance, one of my favourite being his fascination with water and nature, which he always manages to convey and look beautiful. There are some scenes that will probably stick in my mind for quite some time, and these scenes are what make Solaris a really great film. However, unlike the other films I’ve seen by him; yes even Zerkalo, the film fell a bit short as a whole. There are some parts that are only mildly interesting, and there is a part which is a bit of a slump, the beginning is really good and sets up the rest of the film, and the ending as well is fantastic. It is hard to put my finger down somewhere specific, but the film lacked a clear-cut line going through the whole film. This was one of the brilliant elements about Zerkalo; while the narrative was disjointed the film felt as a whole due to overlapping themes and a specific idea running throughout the film. Solaris loses its focus somewhere, and is somewhat hurt by it.
This is the film by Tarkovsky that I liked the least, but that’s not saying a whole lot, because I really like this film, and it still stands on its own as a great piece of cinema. It is fascinating, emotionally and psychologically deep, as well as mystic and contemplative. It’s beautifully shot and evokes many feelings in the viewer, and ultimately this being a weaker film compared to the three other films I’ve seen by Tarkovsky shows me again what a great filmmaker Tarkovsky is.
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