Chemistry in the big cinema: what Tarkovsky created the thinking ocean

Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Solaris was filmed not only in Mosfilm pavilions. Full-scale scenes were created in Moscow, Crimea and Zvenigorod. But few people know that the episodes with the futuristic freeway were filmed in Tokyo - so Japan turned into the world of the future universe of Solaris.

Do you remember how the black and white scenes echo the color scenes? It turns out there's a story behind this about savings. Due to the shortage of Kodak color film, the footage was shot from one take after a long preparation to get the desired result the first time. The lack of film was one of the reasons for the appearance of black and white episodes in the film.

The main special effect of the film (thinking Ocean) was also not what it seems. It was created using combined shooting, and chemists worked on the unusual effect. As a result, the necessary texture was obtained using aluminum sawdust and hydrochloric acid. It was a chemical reaction that helped create the unusual appearance of the Ocean. And they filmed it, imagine, in the pelvis on the table! To project the movement seemed slower, used accelerated shooting.

The music for the film was written by Eduard Artemyev, one of the pioneers of electronic music. Tarkovsky said, “I don’t need a composer, I have Bach.” For the director, German genius was already a ready-made musical decision. What was required of Artemyev then? Not to compose music from scratch, but competently organize noises, give them expressiveness, depth. The main leitmotif of the film was the textbook Choral Prelude in F minor Bach in the treatment of Artemyev.

A red thread through the whole film passes and the picture of Peter Bruegel the Elder “Hunters in the snow”. Tarkovsky added her to the film for a reason. It becomes an allegory of Chris' memories of Earth. There is an interesting detail: we look at the picture in the first person. The viewer sees her through the eyes of Hari - not a man, but a creature born of the Ocean. And here comes the main problem: Hari will never fully understand earthly life, because it is not from our world.