Tales from Enigmatic Oceans

Potential viewers have a neat choice: those who prefer Hollywood-style movies should go for the 2002 remake, 'cos they'll really hate this; those who like slow, complex, solemn (even gloomy) eastern-European films will find the remake shallow by comparison.

This is one of the ten best sf movies ever made, with one of the few successful depictions of a truly alien life-form, yet it is also very anti-science in its suggestion that the space-station's scientists have made little progress in understanding Solaris, because their view is too narrow.

That a film as slow as this can be so riveting reveals the hand of a master at work. If you like this, try also 'Stalker' (1979) by the same director.