Solaris

Psychologist Kris Kelvin spends his last day with his elderly father and his friend Burton, preparing for the mission to Solaris. The scene establishes the emotional stakes and hints at Burton's troubled memory of the planet. The conversation frames the isolation and moral weight of the evaluation ahead.

Burton explains that the haunting child on Solaris resembles one who was orphaned when an explorer vanished. He warns that what Kelvin might encounter could be a trick of memory or something more. The memory of loss colors Kelvin's expectations of the mission.

Kelvin lands at the disordered Solaris station and quickly learns that Gibarian has killed himself. The remaining crew members Snaut and Sartorius are unstable, and strange visitors seem to appear. The station's atmosphere is already saturated with tension and mystery.

Kelvin finds Gibarian's cryptic video message, which shows a little girl aboard the station and asks if Kelvin has seen her. The message hints that the visitors are real to some extent and warns that Kelvin may not be sane if more strange events occur. The video deepens the sense of ominous uncertainty.

Kelvin wakes to find Hari, his deceased wife, in his quarters. He destroys a replica of Hari by launching it into space, shocked by the uncanny resemblance. Snaut explains that the visitors arose after radiation experiments on Solaris.

Hari reappears and Kelvin gradually accepts her, inviting an intimate sleep together. When Kelvin briefly leaves, Hari injures herself, but the wounds heal before his eyes, revealing she is a memory-made guest. The line between memory and personhood becomes increasingly blurred.

Snaut and Sartorius explain that the guests are not physical beings but manifestations born from human memories. They speculate about destroying them with a device called the annihilator, raising questions about reality and responsibility.

Snaut proposes beaming Kelvin's brainwave patterns at Solaris to communicate and perhaps calm the visitors. The plan reflects the scientists' hope that Solaris will understand their human mind and stop the hauntings.

Hari becomes more human and capable of existing away from Kelvin. Sartorius reveals the original Hari killed herself ten years earlier, deepening the mystery of the guests and their link to Kelvin's memories.

Kelvin, Hari, Snaut, and Sartorius gather for a birthday party that devolves into a philosophical argument. Sartorius reminds Hari she isn't real, triggering despair as she drinks liquid oxygen and resurrects minutes later.

On the planet's surface, the ocean begins to swirl into a funnel, signaling a looming, tangible change in Solaris itself. The crew watches as the environment mirrors the turmoil inside the station.

Kelvin falls ill and dreams of his mother, who washes away dirt from his arm. He awakens to Hari's absence, and Snaut reveals that Kelvin's brainwaves have been broadcast into Solaris, which has halted the visits and allowed islands to form on the planet.

Kelvin debates whether to return to Earth or remain with the haunting in a strange, expanding world. The film leaves his choice open as he contemplates the possibility of continuing the mission or choosing personal memory over exposure to the unknown.

Kelvin appears to be at his family home, only to reveal that they are on a Solaris island. The final image renders the reality as a loop between memory and material, underscoring the film's themes of grief and the unknowable.