The article discusses how depictions of female aliens in cinema can be interpreted as signifiers of deeply existentialist discussions of humanity and identity amidst two defining moments of crisis in Soviet and post-Soviet society, namely the US Moon landing in 1969 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The analysis focuses on the female aliens in the films Solaris (1972) and Are We Going Crazy? (1994), using theories of gender performativity, spatial metaphors and the concept of The Divine Sophia. In contrast to the female cyborg typically encountered in Western/ Hollywood sci-fi cinema, the (post-)Soviet female alien downplays the binarism of biology vs. technology and is not concerned with or defined by motherhood. Instead, the function of the female aliens is to spur existentialist discussions of (gender) identity, ideal societies and morality.
