Arrival: Banks' "Memories" of Hannah Are Actually From The Future
By the end of Arrival, it is evident that Banks now sees time in the same non-linearly as the extraterrestrials. This suggests that she has lost all ideas of the past, present, and future; each of these points combines in her mind and happens concurrently. The spectator is shown a warped Timeline starting with banks' obvious flashbacks—supposed to be memories yet to occur.
Though it first throws viewers off, Arrival's twist makes sense given the non-linear narrative approach. Although she knows her kid would only live for twelve years, Banks hasn't yet had her when she has these memories. This changes her sense of time, therefore prevents her from living her own life in the right sequence. She exploits her knowledge of the future to alter the present to her will in a non-zero-sum game, therefore revealing this capacity as both a blessing and a curse.
Arrival's Timeline: Sense Making of the Twist in the Film
Although Denis Villeneuve's Arrival first seems like any other Sci-Fi film, its somewhat complicated chronology makes sense only sometimes. The movie tells the story of Louise Banks, a professional linguist called in by the government upon extraterrestrial arrival on Earth. Her job is to make sure people can effectively interact with these species, but she quickly finds their form of communication is more advanced than anything human beings are able of.
With many obvious visual signals, Villeneuve is able to simplify a very complicated narrative so that audiences may follow Banks' route from beginning to conclusion, even if it is not depicted that way in the story. The major surprise at the end of Arrival is that nothing that has occurred before to that moment has been as it seems; but, when rewatching the movie, all the hints are clear from the start, therefore enabling the spectator to assemble Banks' chronology in the correct sequence.
Arrival's Linear Timeline runs from the arrival of the aliens to Hannah's death.
While Banks can see time nonlinearly, other tale characters are unable. Their lives have to be lived in a sequential fashion. This suggests that everyone else has to abide by a straight chronology. Regarding the events that transpire in Arrival, this chronology starts with the aliens' arrival on Earth, proceeds through Banks's attempts to interact with them, and finally ends in Hannah's death around thirteen years later.
Arrival is one of Villeneuve's most successful films because of this capacity to view the narrative in many angles. First the audience sees Banks's changed point of view, but thanks to the hints Villeneuve provides, enough information is available to piece together the chronology and grasp the story from a more approachable angle. Depending on where you are viewing the story, Hannah's death marks both the beginning and the end of Arrival, therefore turning the movie into an infinite cycle.
Events of Arrival All Occur At Once but Nonlinearly
Emphasizing that Arrival's chronology is not non-linear in the same sense as films like Pulp Fiction or Memento is crucial: it is not hopping back and forth between the past, present, and future. Though Banks (and the extraterrestrials) are the only ones not obliged to see them in a sequence, these events are all happening simultaneously.
Banks has not gone through in the past or will experience in the future; she is going through right now when the public is shown those "memories" of Hannah's death; but, she needs the aliens to access this. From Banks's point of view, the story begins with something that has not technically happened yet, hence the hints to Arrival's twist are present from the beginning.
Other films have drawn on a similar timeline twist.
Arrival's twist is the disclosure of the reality behind the chronology of the film. Although Arrival discovers a fresh approach to manage such a narrative turn-off, many movies with multiple noteworthy references have made use of similar chronological revelations. With the narrative told in reverse—the first scene in the film being the last point in the movie's Timeline—Memento is one of the most well-known films to play with time. The last minutes show where the story really began and expose the protagonist's real goals.
Fascinatingly, Christopher Nolan's films have some of the most significant temporal twists—a topic he seems particularly interested in. With their respective ends showing that the main character had gone back in time to affect his past self in order to make the actions he did in the film, both Interstellar and Tenet use time as a separate narrative element. Like Arrival, the elements of the timeline start to match up and everything starts to make sense.
Louise Shares Shang's wife's dying words with him in Mandarin, which totally changes Denis Villeneuve's arrival's path.
Arrival's story revolves on the alien language, which can be difficult to grasp because it contains sophisticated concepts regarding time and perspective.
This is obviously why Villeneuve's most successful and highly regarded production is this one. Viewers are kept interested in the movie by its complexity, suspense, and gripping narrative. Arrival combines mystery, drama, and science fiction really brilliantly.
