What is Solaris about?
A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet.
Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)
It leaves the ending open to interpretation.
A psychologist investigates a remote space station and confronts dreamlike, melancholy mysteries from his past.
Cerebral. A late-night trip that takes its time. Emotionally it is heavy.
Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 29, 2026.
Solaris parents guide
For a PG-13, this one goes further: moderate sex and nudity. Beyond that, mild language and no real violence.
Our estimate: fine from about 16, higher than the PG-13 suggests, because of the sex and nudity.
- Scare
- Mildly scary
- A few tense or eerie moments.
- Jump scares
- None noted
- Gore
- No gore
- Violence
- No real violence
- Sex and nudity
- Moderate
- Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.
- Language
- Mild
- Mild words like damn, hell or crap.
How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Three questions
- Is Solaris scary?
- Only a little. Solaris has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
- How gory is Solaris?
- No gore and no real violence. Squeamish viewers are fine here.
- What is Solaris rated, and is it OK for kids?
- Rated PG-13. Expect moderate sex and nudity, so it suits teens more than kids.
Cast and crew
Directed bySteven Soderbergh
StarringGeorge Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Viola Davis, Jeremy Davies, Ulrich Tukur, Michael Ensign
More like Solaris
Solaris (1972)Cerebral · late-night trip · emotionally heavy · a slow burnA psychologist confronts his own lost memories as a mysterious planet's influence blurs reality.
Arrival (2016)Cerebral · full attention · emotionally devastating · measuredAn expert linguist races to understand an alien language, navigating a suspenseful, melancholy, and cerebral mystery.
Citizen Kane (1941)Melancholy · late-night trip · emotionally heavy · measuredA newspaper titan's life unravels in a melancholy mystery, piecing together the intimate echoes of a childhood wound.
The Prestige (2006)Suspenseful · full attention · strong violence · emotionally devastatingTwo rival magicians engage in a cerebral and darkly-comic battle of obsession with deadly consequences.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)Cerebral · late-night trip · emotionally heavy · a slow burnHumanity journeys through space and time, encountering a mysterious monolith and an evolving AI.
Contact (1997)Cerebral · late-night trip · emotionally heavy · measuredAn earnest radio astronomer deciphers an extraterrestrial signal, navigating cerebral suspense and epic implications.
Blade Runner (1982)Melancholy · light gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyA gritty, atmospheric Los Angeles detective hunts artificial humans while confronting his own melancholy existence.
Stalker (1979)Bleak · full attention · emotionally devastating · a slow burnA mysterious guide leads two men through an otherworldly, restricted zone where desires may be granted.
More like this feeling
Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.
- “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
- “a movie that will make me cry”
- “funny but not stupid, under two hours”
Lists with the same feel: Melancholy and Weird and surreal.
Five more like Solaris
Say the mood. Five picks with where they stream, right here.
Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.