Production notes

In 1968 the director Andrei Tarkovsky had several motives for cinematically adapting Stanisław Lem's science fiction novel Solaris (1961). First, he admired Lem's work. Second, he needed work and money, because his previous film, Andrei Rublev (1966), had gone unreleased, and his screenplay A White, White Day had been rejected (in 1975, it was realised as Mirror). A film of a novel by Lem, a popular and critically respected writer in the USSR, was a logical commercial and artistic choice. Another inspiration was Tarkovsky's desire to bring emotional depth to the science fiction genre, which he regarded as shallow due to its focus on technological invention; in a 1970 interview, he singled out Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey as "phoney on many points" and "a lifeless schema with only pretensions to truth". Tarkovsky and Lem collaborated and remained in communication about the adaptation. With Friedrich Gorenstein, Tarkovsky co-wrote the first screenplay in the summer of 1969; two-thirds of it occurred on Earth. The Mosfilm committee disliked it, and Lem became furious over the drastic alteration of his novel. The final screenplay yielded the shooting script, which has less action on Earth and deletes Kelvin's marriage to his second wife, Maria, from the story. In the novel Lem describes science's inadequacy in allowing humans to communicate with an alien life form, because certain forms, at least, of sentient extra-terrestrial life may operate well outside of human experience and understanding. In the movie, Tarkovsky concentrates on Kelvin's feelings for his wife, Hari, and the impact of outer space exploration on the human condition. Dr. Gibarian's monologue (from the novel's sixth chapter) is the highlight of the final library scene, wherein Snaut says: "We don't need other worlds. We need mirrors". Unlike the novel, which begins with Kelvin's spaceflight and takes place entirely on Solaris, the film shows Kelvin's visit to his parents' house in the country before leaving Earth. The contrast establishes the worlds in which he lives – a vibrant Earth versus an austere, closed-in space station orbiting Solaris – demonstrating and questioning space exploration's impact on the human psyche.

The set design of Solaris features paintings by the Old Masters. The interior of the space station is decorated with full reproductions of the 1565 painting cycle of The Months (The Hunters in the Snow, The Gloomy Day, The Hay Harvest, The Harvesters, and The Return of the Herd), by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and details of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and The Hunters in the Snow (1565). The scene of Kelvin kneeling before his father and the father embracing him alludes to The Return of the Prodigal Son (1669) by Rembrandt. The references and allusions are Tarkovsky's efforts to give the young art of cinema historical perspective, to evoke the viewer's feeling that cinema is a mature art. The film references Tarkovsky's 1966 film Andrei Rublev, as an icon by Andrei Rublev is present in Kelvin's room. It is the second of a series of three films referencing Rublev, the last being Tarkovsky's next film Mirror, which was released in 1975 and references Andrei Rublev by having a poster of the film hung on a wall.

Tarkovsky initially wanted his ex-wife, Irma Raush, to play Hari, but after meeting actress Bibi Andersson in June 1970 decided that she was better for the role. Wishing to work with Tarkovsky, Andersson agreed to be paid in roubles. Ultimately, Natalya Bondarchuk, whom Tarkovsky met when they were students at the State Institute of Cinematography, was cast as Hari; Bondarchuk had introduced the novel Solaris to him. Tarkovsky auditioned Bondarchuk in 1970 but decided she was too young for the part. Tarkovsky instead recommended Bondarchuk to director Larisa Shepitko, who cast her in You and Me (1971). Half a year later, Tarkovsky screened You and Me and was so impressed by her performance that he decided to cast Bondarchuk as Hari. Tarkovsky cast Donatas Banionis as Kelvin, Jüri Järvet as Snaut, Anatoly Solonitsyn as Sartorius, Nikolai Grinko as Kelvin's father, and Olga Barnet as Kelvin's mother. Tarkovsky had already worked with Solonitsyn, who played Andrei Rublev, and with Grinko, who appeared in Andrei Rublev and Ivan's Childhood (1962). Tarkovsky thought Solonitsyn and Grinko would need extra directorial assistance. After filming was almost completed, Tarkovsky ranked the actors and performances thusly: Bondarchuk, Järvet, Solonitsyn, Banionis, Dvorzhetsky, and Grinko; he also wrote in his diary that "Natalya B. has outshone everybody".

In the summer of 1970 the State Committee for Cinematography (Goskino SSSR) authorized the production of Solaris, with a length of 4,000 metres (13,123 ft), equivalent to a two-hour-twenty-minute running time. The exteriors were photographed at Zvenigorod, near Moscow; the interiors were photographed at the Mosfilm studios. The scenes of space pilot Burton driving through a city were photographed in September and October 1971 at Akasaka and Iikura in Tokyo. The original plan was to film futuristic structures at the World Expo '70, but the trip was delayed. The shooting began in March 1971 with cinematographer Vadim Yusov, who also photographed Tarkovsky's previous films. They quarreled so much on this film that they never worked together again. Eastman Kodak color film was used to shoot the color scenes, though it had to be specially procured for the production as it was not widely available in the Soviet Union. The first version of Solaris was completed in December 1971.

The Solaris ocean was created with acetone, aluminium powder, and dyes. Mikhail Romadin designed the space station as lived-in, beat-up and decrepit rather than shiny, neat and futuristic. The designer and director consulted with scientist and aerospace engineer Lupichev, who lent them a 1960s-era mainframe computer for set decoration. For some of the sequences, Romadin designed a mirror room that enabled Yusov to hide within a mirrored sphere so as to be invisible in the finished film. Akira Kurosawa, who visited the Mosfilm studios during filming, expressed admiration for the space station design. In January 1972 the State Committee for Cinematography requested editorial changes before releasing Solaris. Requests included a more realistic film with a clearer image of the future and deletion of allusions to God and Christianity. Tarkovsky successfully resisted such major changes, and after a few minor edits Solaris was approved for release in March 1972.

The soundtrack of Solaris features Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale prelude for organ Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639, played by Leonid Roizman, and an electronic score by Eduard Artemyev. The prelude is the central musical theme. Tarkovsky initially wanted the film to be devoid of music and asked Artemyev to orchestrate ambient sounds as the score; the latter proposed subtly introducing orchestral music. The classical music used for Earth's theme stands in counterpoint to the fluid electronic music used as the theme for the planet Solaris. The character Hari has her own subtheme, a cantus firmus based on Bach's music featuring Artemyev's music atop it; it is heard at Hari's death and at the story's end.

Steven Soderbergh directed a 2002 adaptation of Solaris for American audiences, starring George Clooney. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office. The 1972 film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.