Several book group members have recently read, independently, Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, a science fictional exploration of the nature of intelligence and reality and humankind’s ability to know and understand the universe.

A second film adaptation of the book was released recently -- an earlier film being produced in Russia in 1971 -- but it has bombed at the box office, despite the presence of George Clooney as the lead actor, and Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brokovich) as director.

I had the afternoon free today, so I decided to see the film before it left theaters completely; Jeremy asked me to post a review.

Solaris is not a bad film, but neither is it a good film. I liked it, moderately, but felt it was more of a “tone poem” for film than a traditional narrative. As such, it is not a film which would appeal to the mass market. It is a curious blend of Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey. There's not a large built-in audience for such a film. In fact, I can only think of one person to which I would actually recommend this film: Dana, and that's only because like me, Dana is a fan of Stanislaw Lem.

The film is beautiful in parts, but mostly I was disappointed that it retained only the narrative structure of the novel while glossing over the philosphical elements, and completely discarding the more fantastical images. (For example, in the film there is absolutely no discussion of Solaristics, of the strange and wonderful physical structures created by this planet-sized living ocean.) The them of the book, to me, was the human desire to know the unknowable, to explain the unexplainable. The film, though, is simply a love story. While this works to a degree, the story loses much of the depth that elevates the novel.

The soundtrack to Solaris is fantastic, however. Amazing ambient electronic music, some of which reminded me of the music from American Bacon's The William Caslon Experience.

Finally: I did find it clever that the filmmakers connected Solaris' plot with the following Dylan Thomas poem:

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

On this day at foldedspace.org

2004 — Book Club Reading List   Here's a list of every book we've read during the past eight years.