Natalya Bondarchuk

A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.

In December 1825, distinguished members of the Russian military, most of whom were quite affluent and of noble lineage, took it upon themselves to stir revolution against the autocratic and tyrannical Czar Nikolai I in the wake of his not honoring the drafting of a constitution for the Russian people. The revolution failed miserably and the conspirators (known as the Decembrists) were weeded out by the czar himself. One by one, each of the conspirators confess and are systematically exiled to the harsh winters of Siberia, slated to work and wither in a prison/mine. The wives of the conspirators are faced with the prospect of leaving the bosom of wealth and family (including their own children) to be with their husbands in the brutal Siberian locale. If they agree to this, they face having their illustrious social stations stripped away and certain disdain from everyone around them...

Coming close to the discovery, which was of great importance in neurosurgery, the film's main character Pyotr leaves his scientific work, his experimental colleague and best friend, and leaves for Sweden to work as a doctor at the embassy. After a few years, dissatisfaction with the work forces him to return to Moscow. But they don't wait for him there, don't accept him into the scientific community, and his best friend refuses to help, despite the requests of Pyotr’s wife. Numerous meetings with various people don't help him gain courage and overcome himself.