Solaris (1972)
The planet where nightmares come true…
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 Solaris, consciousness is carried by aliens — a plane of “memory-planet”. The story fights on E8/E9 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing grief, memory, identity, consciousness, otherness.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Same subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Also bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Solaris (2002)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Queer (2024)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Vanilla Sky (2001)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Anomalisa (2015)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorous
Wifelike (2022)alters at E8 · same rung · looseAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Spaceman (2024)consciousness in aliens · cosmic isolation
The Host (2013)consciousness in aliens · alien‑occupied Earth
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005)consciousness in aliens · Hawaiian alien family
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)consciousness in aliens · cosmic odyssey
Steven Universe: The Movie (2019)consciousness in aliens · gem empire
Parasyte: Part 1 (2014)consciousness in aliens · alien symbiosisSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
The Others (2001)consciousness in the dead · grief, identity
Lamb (2021)consciousness in animals · grief, identity
When Marnie Was There (2014)consciousness in the dead · grief, identity
MirrorMask (2005)consciousness in monsters · grief, identity
Penguin Highway (2018)consciousness carried elsewhere · grief, identity
Nirvana (1997)consciousness in machines · consciousness, identitySame people
Shared director or cast.
