I don’t remember that peculiarity about “Solaris”. I’ll have to rewatch the film and then get back to this thread.
I did not notice it but when you mention it, I can recall the shots that you mean. One thing that underlines the movie that’s not talked about very often is sound design, and how the planet does seem to be emitting noise at parts—at least, that’s how I remember it, but subtly, not drawn to attention. With the shots mentioned, one thinks of the ears’ relationship to balance and perception of space. The movie is only completely “silent” when gravity shuts off and the characters float in the dining room. Also keep in mind the close-up on his face during space travel. I think the ears refer to the character’s perception of space, kind of the way the eyes do in 2001: A Space Odyssey (the comparisons between these movies are a little overdone, however, there are many ways in which Solaris can be read as a response to 2001 . Stuff like the ears instead of eyes would make sense in this analysis).
—PolarisDiB
Drunken Father Figure of Old
I recently re-watched Solaris after several years and noticed some odd close-ups of ears. When Dr. Snaut warns Kelvin about the “visitors,” we get a glimpse of someone in the background, and we can only see a close-up of the ear… not that odd, but it might have some relevance to the end of the film, shortly before Kelvin leaves the ship, when he talks about how not knowing the day of our death makes us immortal, and the camera slowly zooms in on his ear. I’ve tried to come up with some kind of reason for this close-up the past couple days so I could post something to discuss rather than a question, but I’ve come up with nothing. Anybody have any ideas?