Dr. Sartorius: Man was created by Nature in order to explore it. As he approaches Truth he is fated to Knowledge. All the rest is bullshit.
Hari: I have a feeling someone's deceiving us.
Dr. Snaut: We don't want to conquer space at all. We want to expand Earth endlessly. We don't want other worlds; we want a mirror. We seek contact and will never achieve it. We are in the foolish position of a man striving for a goal he fears and doesn't want. Man needs man!
Kris Kelvin: You mean more to me than any scientific truth.
Kris Kelvin: You love that which you can lose, yourself, a woman, a country.
Dr. Snaut: Science? Nonsense! In this situation mediocrity and genius are equally useless! I must tell you that we really have no desire to conquer any cosmos. We want to extend the Earth up to its borders. We don't know what to do with other worlds. We don't need other worlds. We need a mirror. We struggle to make contact, but we'll never achieve it. We are in a ridiculous predicament of man pursuing a goal that he fears and that he really does not need. Man needs man!
Kris Kelvin: Whenever we show pity, we empty our souls.
Kris Kelvin: Guibariane did not die of fear, he died out of shame. The salvation of humanity is in its shame!
Kris Kelvin: There are so few of us!
Kris Kelvin: Well, anyway, my mission is finished. And what next? To return to Earth? Little by little everything will return to normal. I'll find new interests, new acquaintances, but I won't be able to devote all of myself to them.
The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife who has been dead for seven years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence. Written by Dan Ellis
This film probes man's thoughts and conscience, as it follows a psychologist who is sent to a space station situated over the mysterious Solaris Ocean. The two other scientists there tell the psychologist of strange occurrences in the station, and the Ocean's eerie ability to materialize their thoughts. After being in the station for a while, the psychologist finds himself becoming very attached to its alternate reality... Written by Philip Brubaker
When the scientist Fechner disappears in the surface of the mysterious Solaris Ocean, the experienced helicopter pilot Henri Berton crosses a fog seeking out Fechner and has weird visions. His statement is presented to a commission of scientists that believe he had hallucinations. However, the widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin is assigned to the space station that orbits Solaris to check the mental health of the three remaining scientists that are still working there. He first meets Dr. Snaut, who tells him that Dr. Gibarian committed suicide, and later he meets Dr. Sartorius and he realizes that the scientists have strange behaviors. When he encounters his wife Hari, who died ten years ago, in the space station, the scientists explain to Kris that the Solaris Ocean has the ability to materialize the innermost thoughts in neutrons beings. Kris questions whether the appearance of his beloved wife is a curse or a blessing. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Stanislaw Lem: Solaris (1961)
Chapter 14: The Old Mimoid
How has Kelvin been changed by his relationship with "Rheya?" Manicheanism was a religion founded by a third-century prophet named Mani, distantly related to Persian Zarathustrianism. Like the latter, it argued that the presence of evil in the universe could be explained by the existence of an evil god named Ahriman who was perpetually in conflict with a good God named Ahura-Mazda. The sort of imperfect god Kelvin describes had in fact been described by at least two writers before him: Nikos Kazantzakis presents such an image of God in many books, particularly The Saviors of God, and Olaf Stapledon in The Star-Maker; and Lem specifically acknowledges having read the latter. What is the argument that Kelvin makes against the ability of human beings to create gods according to their individual desires? What do you think of this argument? What do you think Kelvin is trying to do as he plays with the waves? Why is it significant that he cannot actually touch the surface of the ocean? What does the growth of the flower in his hand suggest? "Finis vitae sed non amoris" means "life ends but not love." What does the last sentence of the novel mean?
How has Kelvin been changed by his relationship with "Rheya?" Manicheanism was a religion founded by a third-century prophet named Mani, distantly related to Persian Zarathustrianism. Like the latter, it argued that the presence of evil in the universe could be explained by the existence of an evil god named Ahriman who was perpetually in conflict with a good God named Ahura-Mazda. The sort of imperfect god Kelvin describes had in fact been described by at least two writers before him: Nikos Kazantzakis presents such an image of God in many books, particularly The Saviors of God, and Olaf Stapledon in The Star-Maker; and Lem specifically acknowledges having read the latter. What is the argument that Kelvin makes against the ability of human beings to create gods according to their individual desires? What do you think of this argument? What do you think Kelvin is trying to do as he plays with the waves? Why is it significant that he cannot actually touch the surface of the ocean? What does the growth of the flower in his hand suggest? "Finis vitae sed non amoris" means "life ends but not love." What does the last sentence of the novel mean?
