Vit Babenco's Reviews > Solaris

I consider Solaris by Stanisław Lem to be one of the key works in science fiction of the twentieth century…

Simultaneously I noticed the violet-flushed furrows of the ocean, which betrayed a faint motion; the clouds suddenly rose high up, their edges marked with dazzling crimson, the sky between them grew distant and flat, dull orange in color, and everything became blurred: I’d entered a spin. Before I could utter a word, a brief impact returned the capsule to a horizontal position, and the ocean, glittering with a mercuric light to the very limits of the horizon, appeared in the spy hole.

And this ocean is an extraterrestrial mind – huge, aloof, incomprehensible and mysterious… And this enigmatic mind must be explored… However this tremendous outlandish consciousness starts exploring the explorers…

When I opened my eyes I had the feeling I’d only been sleeping a few minutes. The room was filled with a cloudy red glow. I felt cold and I felt fine. I lay naked outside the covers. Across from the bed, by the window, which was half covered by the shades, someone was sitting in the light of the red sun. It was Harey, in a white summer dress. Her legs were crossed, she was barefoot, her dark hair was tied back; the sheer material was taut over her breasts. Her dangling arms were tanned to the elbows; she sat motionless, looking at me from under dark eyelashes. I gazed at her for a long time, entirely calm. My first thought was: “I’m glad this is one of those dreams where you know you’re dreaming.” All the same, I’d have preferred her not to be there. I closed my eyes and began to wish this intensely, but when I opened them again she was still sitting there.

Like an omnipotent alien psychoanalyst, the sentient ocean perceives the scientists’ subconscious phobias, materializes them and makes the researchers face their revived nightmares…
First off, look at yourselves…