Spoiler Warning!
Solaris is divided into two parts so we divided the timeline into two separate posts.
Solaris Part 1:
Chris Kelvin meets Berton to talk about the messages coming from the station orbiting the planet Solaris. Chris plans to leave for the station soon.
Berton shows Chris and his family a video of Berton’s testimonial of what happened on Solaris to a board of people.
The video shows the first glimpse of Solaris; a boiling, swirling ocean. The ocean is thought to be conscious but scientists understand little about it despite trying to understand it for many years. The board decides to stop researching the planet.
A conversation between Berton and Chris establishes the theme of trying to communicate with the planet and that bombarding the planet with radiation may be necessary to understand it.
A second video establishes that only three scientists: Sartorius, Snaut, and Gibarian are still researching Solaris on the station. Berton video calls Chris from his car to show him that Fetchner’s son looks like the child he saw on Solaris. This event shows that solaris can produce holographic projections that look identical to humans and can replicate them. The car ride also shows a futuristic city.
Chris arrives at the Solaris space station. He begins to see how messy and chaotic the station has become.
Chris meets Dr. Snaut. Snaut warns Chris that he may see other people on the station.
Chris starts watching Gibarian’s video tape. Gibarian thinks the only way to communicate with the planet is to bombard it with high-powered X-rays. Communicating with the planet is the main goal of the station’s research.
Chris meers Dr. Sartorius outside the station’s lab. A midget tries to escape the lab, showing that other people live on the station.
Chris Kelvin follows a young woman into a freezer and finds Dr. Gibarian’s body.
Chris finishes watching Gibarian’s video. Gibarian kills himself shortly after the video ends.
Chris Kelvin meets one of Solari’s projections. The projection looks to be his wife Hari who has been dead for 10 years. She has little memory of who she is but she wants to stay with Chris. We know that Solaris can create physical, sentient, and personal projections.
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