Synopsis:

A revision of the 1972 classic that removes the most extraneous and patience taxing sequences, and gives a moderate boost to the pacing of other scenes, but stays true to the full emotional journey of the main characters and meditative tone. In Russian with hard burned English subtitles.

Intentions:

To reduce tortuously dull sequences, overextended takes, distracting digressions, and pretentious philosophizing. At the same time, to respect the artistic vision, the character development and the languorous and reflective tone. To focus the story on Solaris Station and the psychology of alien contact and lessen the attention on minor characters. To offer a more refined and entertaining version that appeals to a wider audience.

Change List:

- Created new Mosfilm logo. - Deleted Russian language credits from the beginning of the movie. - Added credits to opening nature walk (the primary actors and crew only). - Cut line “He wanted to run away when he saw me.” Makes no sense in the context. - Cut nameless boy meeting nameless girl. A needless distraction. - Changed translation to “the station might be moved from Solaris’ orbit” to communicate better that Berton is opposed to moving the station. - Trimmed thundershower sequence for better pacing. - Changed translation to “I’ve already seen it before.” If father had seen the testimony “many times,” his son would probably know about it by now. It makes more sense that Burton’s testimony was an embarrassing episode that everyone wanted to forget. - Cut large chunks of Burton’s testimony and reactions from the other officials and scientists, and rearranged the remaining scenes. No more contradictory statement that the expedition will be terminated. The sequence now covers just the essential points: how Solaris affected Burton’s mental balance, and the skepticism he received from the expedition’s managers. - As Kris stares at portrait of his mother, fade to a live shot of her. Adds interest to a long take and gives a better idea of his internal thoughts. - Trimmed shot of father weakly calling to an absent Kris. Less confusing now that father stays in character as a strong personality. - Cut line “You’re jealous he’s going to bury me.” That’s overkill on the family psychodrama. Keep focus on the astronaut and his mission. - Cut TV program about Solaris and replaced with a brief, invented show. In this edit, the Solaris expedition is old news, no longer important enough to rate a TV program. Also, the sequence is an unnecessary and excessive info dump. The invented show uses a deleted scene of burning scraps in a mirrored room and new music. - Improved some translations about Fechner and his orphaned son. - Cut all windshield shots of cars driving on freeways. The much shorter sequence now focuses on a worried Burton in his driverless car, tinted purple to match the sky, and the grimy, rushed city of the future. - Cut almost all of the farewell “burning papers” sequence. In this edit the trip to Solaris is not very time consuming and Kris’s farewell is not forever. This is consistent with Burton, who returned to Earth and testified about Solaris soon after his experience there. Also the acting is poor and none of the information is really essential. Only a short scene remains of Kris chilling on the porch in twilight, tinted blue. - Shortened and rearranged the space travel sequence. The silly, amateurish corkscrewing camera moves are gone, replaced by a few effects that attempt to stay in the same idiom. - Approach and entry to Solaris Station is trimmed for pacing. - Deleted line “You’ve got guests.” - Poor Kris’s awkward and unconvincing pratfall is cut. The guy is a trained astronaut, not Buster Keaton. - Trimmed Kris’s “spooky window” reactions in Gibarian’s quarters, and also the one in the corridor soon after. The scenes lead nowhere and confuse the narrative instead of adding atmosphere. - Trimmed Gibarian in the freezer. - Tinted Kris’s nighttime quarters blue but kept Gibarian’s video recording black and white. - Cut Kris peeking in the mirror. The guy is a trained astronaut, not Scooby Doo. - Trimmed zoom into sleeping Kris and his awakening. - Removed Kris ripping Hari’s dress. Focuses the scene on his reaction to the needle mark. - Cut intermission. - Trimmed capsule launch for better pacing and a more convincing special effect. Cut stunt double on fire – it’s gratuitous. Muted Hari’s screams to sound more like they are coming from inside the capsule. Trimmed zoom into sleeping Kris to move the action along. - Removed Hari cutting her dress off. Trimmed and rearranged the bedroom scene and trimmed the following corridor scene. - Cut lines “But who have you wronged?” “You, among others.” Excessive, unclear and unrealistic dialogue. - Recut Kris’s home movies to be shorter and more active, and recolored them black and white. - Cut Hari seeing water falling from ceiling. The director is implying we are already in Solaris-created reality. But this edit keeps a firmer separation between real and virtual, and we stay in actual reality until the final fever dream. - Trimmed Hari sleeping. - Trimmed the crew waiting in the library. - Cut Kris reading from book. The quote is artful and apropos, but the library sequences are too long and dismal and need to be cut wherever possible. With this cut there is more focus on Sartorious’s jealousy and the contention between him, Kris and Hari. - Changed some translations of Snaut’s speech. “Man needs man” becomes “Humankind needs humankind.” Clearer meaning in the context of alien contact. - Cut Snaut’s alert about impending weightlessness. - Cut most of Hari’s art experience, keeping just a few shots to give a taste. - Cut weightless flying. It looks kinda fake, but the main thing is to move the action out of the library sooner. - Intercut some remaining shots with the ocean special effect to create a shorter, more intense buildup to Hari’s liquid oxygen crash. - Cut bedroom scene of Kris saying he’ll live on the station with Hari. In this edit, Hari becomes more remote and enigmatic, more in keeping with her goodbye note. - Shortened Kris’s monologue about the philosophy of love to keep the focus relevant to the plot. - Cut and trimmed scenes of Kris in bed with fever, including the mirrored room. We are starting to move towards the climax here and the storyline progresses more quickly. - Trimmed some scenes with Mama. Muted the annoying sound of the rattling vase lid. - Cut scene of Kris in bed asking for Hari; instead we go directly to his scene with Snaut. - Cut entire final scene in library and extreme closeup of Kris’s ear. My pretentiousness meter went off the chart! - Trimmed Kris’s voiceover philosophizing as we fly through clouds, to focus on info relevant to the story. - Added more cloud whiteout to smooth transitions during the final camera pullback sequence. - Added a final credits scroll to the end of the movie, in English, showing credits that don’t appear in the beginning of the movie, and with fanedit credits added. - And many small trims and technical fixes throughout the whole movie.

Additional Notes:

A psychologist is sent to investigate a failed scientific mission in orbit over the sentient ocean planet of Solaris, but becomes involved in a very personal and mystifying odyssey of alien contact. Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 Russian film has been called a “sci-fi masterpiece,” and “excruciatingly boring” also. This edit takes the original as a diamond in the rough. Solaris is one of the most literary and thoughtful science fiction movies ever made. With some careful cutting and polishing a real gem can emerge. The movie has interesting challenges for a faneditor. The director’s style uses a lot of extra long, extra slow takes that are tough to manipulate without losing continuity. The soundtrack is monophonic and the subtitles are an extra layer to juggle. On the other hand there is a lot to work with. Whole sequences can be deleted without affecting the plot in the least. The long slow pans and zooms provide many good spots for trims. Hard core Tarkovsky fans might really hate this edit. And if your idea of top quality entertainment is Transformers style nonstop action and quick cuts, this edit is definitely not your cup of tea. It is still an old-school foreign movie that is long and slow, with characters who talk a lot about their relationships to each other. The 2002 Criterion DVD switches from color to black and white at arbitrary moments, which makes the whole movie more confusing. This fanedit standardizes the coloring scheme. Color sequences are in the present. Black and white sequences are in the past, or on video, or in a dream or memory. The black and white sequences that were colored have been tinted blue. It’s interesting that the Criterion Blu-Ray that is coming out in May 2011 will also tint the black and white to blue, but they don’t say if there is any logic to the recoloring scheme. Also, the original film is cursed with an lousy splicing job. There are many, many splices that make the picture jump and distort. It’s especially bad in a film like Solaris that has so many slow, deliberate shots where bad splices really stand out. They make the film distracting and unsettling but not in a good way. Many of these bad splices have been fixed by cutting or patching. It is painstaking work but worth it to see a smoother, more stable look.

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