FAQ for
Solaris (2002) Plus avec IMDbPro »

Yes. She was in complete physical form, could be physically touched, and seen by all, not just Chris.

The "psychological effect" of the planet Solaris is what keeps her alive on the ship. However, as she continues to regenerate (she's killed a number of times while on the ship), she begins to realize that she is not actually real and could not exist in life back on earth.

It's not completely explained, however it could create something of a paradox ripple effect since there would be two metaphysical worlds: one with the real Rheya being dead, and one co-existing with the Solaris version of her alive.

Another reason is that it could cause mass hysteria or panic back on Earth as people would either condemn her presence, or want to travel to Solaris to bring back a loved one themselves.

Chris was sent to the ship to analyze why the crew stopped responding to calls from Earth. Solaris did not trick your mind, but actually made everything real while you were in its grasp. Knowing Rehya was dead, Chris did not believe at first that the Solaris "Rehya" was real, and immediately disposed of her through the escape pod. However, as Solaris continued to recreate her, physically putting her in his presence, he began to believe she existed. Therefore, even a very well trained mind could not tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't.

The actual human scientist named Snow had been dead for an unspecified length of time when Kelvin arrived on the station. The character named "Snow" that Kelvin, Rheya and Gordon interact with throughout the film is in fact one of the Solarist Visitors.

Around the time the scientists began to notice the Solaris phenomena, Snow was visisted by a Solarist copy--either of himself or of a [twin] brother, as the Visitor later tells Kelvin. Startled, Snow went to attack the Visitor with a knife, only to drop the weapon in the struggle. Acting in self-defense, the Snow-Visitor grabbed the blade and used it to kill Snow, later hiding the scientist's corpse above the ceiling tiles of the morgue (dried blood can be noticed above Kelvin's head when he inspects the bodies shortly after arriving).

The Snow-Visistor then proceeded to act as the real Snow so as not to elicit suspicon or accusation from Gordon. However, there must have been some discrepancy between the actual Snow's behaviour and the Snow-Visitor's impression, as Gordon announces her suspicions have been confirmed when she and Gordon discover the body.

As to the identity of Snow's visitor, one may never know. While it's possible that Solaris created a copy of Snow himself, this doesn't seem to fit with the other Visitors, whom had established a pattern of impersonating other people in the person's life (Gibarian's son, Rheya, etc.) Likewise, it is not certain that the Visitor truly is of Snow's brother, as at the time the Snow-Visitor mentioned this he was still hiding his own identity.