When Dr Kris Kelvin (Vasiliy Lanovoy) arrives at the Solaris space station, he discovers a deeply traumatised crew. Haunting apparitions are slowly driving them mad, seemingly emanating from the mind of the sentient ocean planet they have been researching. Soon enough, Kelvin is forced to deal with his own guilt-ridden past, as his dead wife appears in his sleeping quarters. The first adaptation of Lem’s novel Solaris, this rare black-and-white television play is a moody, sparse and claustrophobic examination of the existential quandaries of outer space exploration.
