Arrival is a 2016 American science fiction drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer, based on the short story "Story of Your Life" by author Ted Chiang. The film stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg andTzi Ma. Arrival had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2016. The film is scheduled to be released on November 11, 2016 in IMAX, by Paramount Pictures.
Directed by : Denis Villeneuve
Produced by :
- Dan Levine
- Shawn Levy
- David Linde
- Karen Lunder
- Aaron Ryder
Screenplay by : Eric Heisserer
Based on : "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang
Cast :
- Amy Adams
- Jeremy Renner
- Forest Whitaker
- Michael Stuhlbarg
- Tzi Ma
Music by : Jóhann Jóhannsson
Cinematography : Bradford Young
Edited by : Joe Walker
Production companies :
- FilmNation Entertainment
- Lava Bear Films
- 21 Laps Entertainment
Distributed by : Paramount Pictures
Release dates :
- September 1, 2016(Venice)
- November 11, 2016(United States)
Synopsis
The film begins with a montage showing the birth, life and death of linguist Louise Bank's (Amy Adams) daughter, who dies from cancer in her teenage years. Some time later, Louise is teaching at a College when news breaks that a mysterious spacecraft has landed in the U.S. The following reports reveal that twelve spacecraft have landed across the globe in seemingly random locations. US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) meets Louise and offers her the opportunity to attempt to translate audio recordings of the creatures inside the spacecrafts. Louise states that she can accept only if she is allowed into the spacecraft to see the creatures for a better understanding of their language. Weber initially refuses, but later returns to Louise's home and agrees.
That night, Louise is flown by helicopter to the nearest spacecraft landing site. On the way, she meets mathematician and scientist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), and is told that each of their teams will attempt to translate the creatures' language. They hope to be able to communicate with the creatures to before other governments attack the creatures who have landed in their countries. On their first attempt, two creatures, resembling large squids with seven twig-like legs, appear behind a glass-like screen. Louise tries to speak with them, but is unsuccessful. On the team's second attempt, Louise brings a whiteboard and displays the word "human" to the creatures. The creatures respond by using their legs to project a substance into the air that forms a symbol, which the team interprets as their language. Louise then removes her protection suit and approaches the creatures at the glass; as she presses her hand against it, and one of the creatures does the same.
Later, Louise is plagued by repeated flashbacks of her deceased daughter. She sees images of her bonding with small animals, and a vision of her telling her daughter that her husband left them when she told him something about a disease that he wasn't ready to hear. When asked for help with her daughter's homework, Louise responds by saying that if she wants science, she should contact her father.
Weber is impressed with Louise's progress. The team resumes its attempts to teach the creatures more of the English language so they can eventually ask their key question: "What is your purpose on this planet?". They also deduce that the creatures' language has no beginning or end points; an entire sentence is depicted in a single circular symbols. While their progress seems positive, Chinese General Shang reports that the creatures in the spacecraft in China have shown signs of hostility, and the U.S creature has asked questions about weaponry.
Louise makes further progress with the creatures, who project an enormous visualisation of their language onto the screen. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Louise and Ian, U.S army soldiers place a small bomb inside the spacecraft, and it detonates. Louise and Ian survive the blast, but all of the spacecrafts float higher into the sky, stopping humanity from entering them.
Ian realises that the enormous projection had a hidden meaning: the fraction 1/12, implying that if each country shared their knowledge of the creatures' language, they would understand them. This is impossible, however, as each country has stopped communicating with the others due to differences of opinion on how to treat the creatures.
After a debate on how to further the process, Louise approaches the spacecraft alone. It responds by sending down a smaller craft, which she enters. It takes her to the other side of the glass wall. Having learnt enough of each other's languages, Louise and one of the creatures primitively communicate. The creature reveals that the other was wounded in the explosion and is dying. It informs Louise that the weapon they mentioned earlier is in her possession, and that she has always possessed it. Louise asks the creature if they can see into the future, but it responds by saying that Louise is the one who can do this. Due to its trust in her, the creature then allows Louise access to their entire language. Returning to Earth, Louise begins to realise that the weapon they mean is in fact memory, and she understands that the creatures have found a way to view time as a nonlinear process. As she now understands their language, Louise shares this ability, giving her the opportunity to clearly see into both her past and future. Louise manages to see into the future, and sees General Shang thanking her for changing his mind. When she asks him how she did this, he tells her that she phoned him directly and told him his wife's dying words. As she experiences this in her mind, the present day Louise phones Shang directly (using the number he showed her in the future, claiming it was important that she see it) and uses her forward-memory ability to recite his wife's final words after hearing them from him, despite the fact that this hasn't actually happened yet. Shang immediately calls a ceasefire and agrees to treat the creatures as allies, ending the possibility of war between them. The spacecrafts disappear from the Earth.
Louise returns to the base and finds Ian. In another memory, it is revealed that Louise's daughter's name is Hannah, a name Louise chose because it is a palindrome (a word spelt the same backward or forward). Louise then realizes that her memories of her daughter actually come from the future, and that Ian is to be her husband and her daughter's father. Louise experiences memories of Hannah's lifetime once more, now fully aware that they are yet to occur, and sees a new memory of the future in which Ian embraces her and asks if she wants to make a baby. As the two embrace in the present, by the now empty landing site, Louise, with full knowledge of what is to come, simply replies "yes" in the future.
Trailer
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