1 Arrival Opening Sequence Detail Revealed Its Twist Ending
The brilliantly mind-bending ending of Arrival is hinted at through a small detail in the movie’s opening sequence, which also reflects the movie’s structure. Adapted from Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life,” Arrival, which is sometimes considered Denis Villeneuve’s best sci-fi movie, strikes a remarkable balance between the heartfelt and the cerebral through the story of linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams). The story focuses predominantly on the arrival of extraterrestrial spacecrafts on earth, with Louise working alongside physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) to find a way to communicate with the seven-limbed Aliens they call Heptapods.
Both Louise and Ian directly interact with two of these aliens, nicknamed Abbott and Costello, with the two gradually learning the Heptapods’ Complicated language. Their language takes the form of circular symbols that represent palindromic phrases, and in the process of learning the language, Louise starts having memory-like visions of her daughter Hannah. As a result, Louise recognizes that the Heptapod’s language can change humans’ linear perception of time into a time loop, as her visions are revealed to be actually showing future events in the life of her Unborn daughter.
Arrival is one of the 2010s best movies and the opening sequence not only underlines this but subtly reveals its time loop structure to the audience. The movie begins with a montage of the life and tragic death of Louise’s young daughter Hannah. The sequence ends with Louise walking out of a hospital room and along a circular corridor, which effectively acts as a physical representation of the time loop that the audience experiences in the movie. What’s more, immediately before this moment Louise says in voiceover, “And this was the end,” which is literally true due to it being chronologically the last thing that happens in the movie - even though, for the audience, it is the beginning.
How Language Creates Arrival’s Time Loop
Eric Heisserer, Arrival‘s screenwriter, who also wrote one of Netflix’s biggest movies (Bird Box), says that the theory underpinning the movie’s time loop is based on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Put simply, this is the idea that language directly influences how people understand the world they live in. The more that Louise understands the Heptapods’ written communication, the more her perception of past, present, and future blurs. In this way, she experiences a variety of future memories that save humanity but also doom her relationship with Ian.
The reason for this is due to Arrival examining a Linguistic concept known as non-linear orthography. Orthography essentially refers to the Conventions of any spelling system, with human languages being typically written in linear sentences that run from left to right or right to left. However, the Heptapods’ language is different because the symbols tell a fully expressed non-linear story that is therefore Unbound by time. This reflects Denis Villeneuve’s interest in characters’ capacity to change, as the Heptapods communicate and experience the universe in a way that is unconstrained by human concepts of past, present, and future. By learning their language, Louise becomes similarly unbound by time.
Interestingly, there is a gap between the beginning and end of each of the Heptapods’ circular symbols, and it could be interpreted that this is what stops Arrival from being fatalistic. The language loop remaining unclosed may account for the importance of choice that remains within the narrative, especially in the details of Hannah’s life which begin and end Louise’s story. When it comes to knowing the details of Hannah’s death, Louise never excuses herself for the choice she makes to be with Ian and to have their child. In addition, Ian can’t forgive her choice given that she knows what the Fate of their daughter will be. Nevertheless, her choice isn’t based on cruelty. This is typical of Denis Villeneuve’s movies and comes from an understanding that mortality gives life a meaning it wouldn’t otherwise have. As such, choosing to love, despite the inevitable pain that comes with it, might be the bravest choice of all. Knowing this and knowing that the beginning is truly the end gives the montage of future Memories in Arrival‘s opening sequence even more power and beauty by showing love as an Endless loop in Louise’s life.