Legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s movies are deeply psychological and bring up philosophical questions as food for thought. In Solaris (1972), which has long achieved the status of a sci-fi masterpiece, Tarkovsky takes viewers to outer space but at the same time to the inner space of the mind and down to our every heartbeat.

Solaris is best described as a psychological drama set in outer space. By setting and general subject matter – investigating the repeated incidence of psychological breakdown and loss of sanity aboard the space station orbiting the (fictional) planet of Solaris – it passes for sci-fi. In mood and presentation, it is a conversation by and between mature minds brought to life on the screen by several characters that witness and discuss events beyond the rang...

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