Solaris

Soviet Union, 1972. Director Andrei Tarkovsky. 166min.

In contrast to the technotopian sci-fi productions of the 1950s and 1960s, Tarkovsky’s Solaris offered to early-1970s audiences a completely fresh take on a future world of interstellar travel. Within the genre, the film is uncharacteristically somber and understated in its preference for familiar, “human” imagery of nature and sixteenth century Flemish painting over the exotically new. Tarkovsky’s lack of reverence for technological marvels, special effects or any kind of futuristic aesthetic allows space for an extremely nuanced psychological portrayal of people affected by enigmatic, haunting phenomena that unravel on the distant planet Solaris. This is only underlined by the no-nonsense, lived-in clothes in an earthy colour palette, in which costume designer Nelli Fomina dressed the characters.

With Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis and Jüri Järvet.
Costumes by Nelli Fomina.

Past screenings

Wearing Time: Past, Present, Future, Dream – London
Sunday 19 March 2017, 20:00 | Curzon, Bloomsbury
With an introduction and readings from Nelli Fomina: Costumes for the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky (2015) by Anastasija Nikitina.

Wearing Time: Past, Present, Future, Dream – New York
Sunday 22 April 2018, 18:30 | Museum of the Moving Image