Andrei Tarkovsky and the Thought Process Behind Solaris

Andrei Tarkovsky, the director of Solaris (1972), diverged from Stanislaw Lem's idea of Solaris in order to make the movie adaptation more cinematic and human-oriented. Rather than exploring inexplicable phenomena, Tarkovsky chose to portray the story as one of "finding our place in the universe," the depth and importance of love and truth, and the boundaries of human knowledge. Though the professionals on Earth and aboard the Solaris station continuously studied Solaristics, it seems as though the consciousness of the Solaris ocean was studying them. Therefore, rather than focusing on our weak understanding of the incomprehensible as described in the book, the movie adaptation analyzes what it means to be human.