The Hunters in the Snow & Solaris

Solaris is a 1972 Russian film by Andrei Tarkovsky based on the 1961 Polish novel by Stanisław Lem. There have been other adaptations, including 1968 Russian made-for-TV movie and a 2002 American film.  

Synopsis:  Psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to a space station orbiting the ocean planet Solaris to investigate the emotional state of the three scientists that remain in orbit - all others have fallen to mental breakdowns of varying degrees. When Kris arrives he finds the space station in disarray, the one scientist he knew has committed suicide, and people other than the scientists are aboard. Kris is soon joined by his dead wife and it becomes apparent why the previous scientist have broken down...

There are probably as many ways to analyze this film as there are the Shining, but I am going to look at the painting The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel (Brueghel) the Elder. 

Here is the anti-gravity scene from the film with features the painting, followed, after the jump, by how this fits into the film...

Hunters in the Snow was painted in 1565 along with five other painting depicting times of the year by Bruegel the Elder. Of the six total, five have survived and all five are featured in Solaris, but not to the degree of Hunters in the Snow. The one painting that has been lost is the depiction of Spring. Now, one may get confused between Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Bruegel the Younger. They were father and son and both painters of note, and both painted winter scenes, but the Younger would copy  the Elder's work. The Younger was an adept painter, and he mastered his own original style and work, but he did make copies of his father's work. And of course the Hunters in the Snow as seen if Solaris, along with the other four paintings, is a copy. The painting were not sent into orbit above Solaris, and the size is wrong - the actual painting is 46"X 63¾". 

So what can one glean from all of this? 

Winter. The dream-like beauty that exists in winter is bound in it's harsh nature. It is like a big cat. Calmness and ferocity all wrapped up into one deceptive package, and claustrophobia. The misconception that colds are caught in the cold has been reinforced by their prevalence during the winter moths - colds are most prevalent because people spend the most time together during that time of the year, confined in homes together where it is warm.

Missing Spring. Bruegel the Elder painted what are believed six paintings in the series The Months of which five survive.  and the Hunters in the Snow is most predominantly featured in Solaris. the six painting are The Hunters in The Snow (most predominantly featured in Solaris), The Gloomy Day, The Hay Harvest, The Harvesters, and The Return of the Herd. Spring is missing. When Andrei Tarkovsky was deciding to feature The Months in Solaris what was the deciding factor behind him choosing and incomplete series? I think it comes down to the appearance of the character Kris Kelvin's dead wife Hari. Spring is the time of birth and renewal. Hari appears out of nowhere and assumes, relatively coolly, into her roll of Kris' wife. But the real problem that manifests itself because of this. It is somewhat akin to individuals who come out of the woodwork, in what seems like a regular six-month cycle, and want to clone some famous and deceased historical figure. Hari is the same cloned individual. she has no birth, and is not the same product of her environment as Hari #1.  Hari #2 possesses and ersatz personality of Hari #1, but as she lives and learns she becomes a different person and matures beyond anything Hari #1 ever was.

The Allegory. The Months are an allegory and they signify that an allegory exists in Solaris. Communicating with an alien mind, communicating with the mind of someone you think you know so well, and then in the end communicating with your own mind. The painting are not real. What is said and then what is heard is not real,  What exist and then what is seen is not real. By the end of Solaris, it becomes clear that what is seen and what is thought experienced may have been only an illusion. Was the Library real? did ocean of Solaris hang the five painting? were they as real as Hari? What is real? Does it matter?