If you’re familiar with Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” the tale that inspired Arrival, you already have an inkling of how the movie will unfold.
From the very beginning, you’ll recognize the trajectory of the story and know its emotional impact. Yet, despite this foreknowledge, the film will still captivate you, and it will shatter your heart—just as you anticipated any faithful adaptation would.
For those who haven’t read the original story
, Arrival will unravel in a similarly fascinating way. You’ll start with confusion and curiosity, gradually piece things together, and ultimately experience a profound emotional impact. The inevitability of heartbreak is central to this film. What struck me most about Arrival is how it not only captures the essence of Chiang’s story—the challenges of alien communication and its transformative effects on humanity—but also mirrors the experience of reading the story itself.
Chiang’s narrative, nonlinear and written in the second person, seems almost impossible to translate into film. Yet Arrival succeeds brilliantly, making you weep not just at the story’s core but at the remarkable feat of its adaptation. The plot revolves around Louise Banks, a gifted linguist recruited to facilitate communication with extraterrestrials who have landed in Montana, among other global locations. Teaming up with an astrophysicist and navigating military tensions, Louise must decode the language of the Heptapods, an alien species so different from us that initial contact seems almost impossible.
However, as Louise begins to understand their written language, she starts experiencing her own life out of sequence—visions that blend memories with glimpses of the future. This realization drives the narrative as she races to share her insights before fear-driven conflicts escalate.
Originally published in 1998, “Story of Your Life” is a celebrated short story, and Arrival stands as a worthy adaptation. It joins the ranks of notable peaceful first-contact films like The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Contact, all of which are among my favorite sci-fi films. The film’s cast—Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker—delivers understated, impactful performances. Louise Banks reminded me of two other notable female scientists in cerebral science fiction: Ryan Stone in Gravity and Ellie Arroway in Contact.
These characters are driven, intelligent, and deeply focused on their careers. While Gravity ultimately felt like a metaphor for grief rather than a space adventure, Arrival turns the trope of a grieving mother on its head. For my friends who hadn’t read the story, the film’s revelations about Louise’s life came as a profound twist, overturning the expected melodrama and intertwining science fiction with deep emotional resonance.
Arrival is a natural successor to Contact, with Louise Banks as a conceptual heir to Ellie Arroway. However, while Contact presents a comforting vision of advanced alien civilizations, Arrival offers a more complex and unsettling portrayal. The Heptapods are depicted with a striking believability, eschewing typical Hollywood CGI in favor of a more authentic and enigmatic design.
This film uniquely illustrates the daunting task of communicating with beings who perceive time and space in fundamentally different ways. Some may feel that the film’s inclusion of global politics and military tensions detracts from the original story’s intimacy. However, these elements expand the narrative’s scope without betraying its essence.
The film remains focused on Louise and her journey, capturing the personal stakes amidst the broader context. Arrival offers a refreshing glimpse of science fiction that celebrates intellectual problem-solving and peaceful exploration, aligning with recent trends in films like Interstellar and The Martian.
Here’s hoping its success continues to pave the way for more thoughtful, accessible science fiction in mainstream cinema.
