Arrival is 10 years old. This first-contact film is as brilliant as ever

Arrival Denis Villeneuve Here’s something remarkable: for a decade now, one of the finest directors working anywhere in the world has been exclusively focused on science fiction. That isn’t a blessing we’re often afforded. More remarkable still is that each of the four films he has released in this period has been a success – and his fifth, the final part of the Dune trilogy, out this December, looks likely to be one, too. Yes, I’m talking about Denis Villeneuve. But instead of looking ahead at Dune: Part Three, I want to look back at his first (and probably best) foray into sci-fi, released in the UK 10 years ago this month. The best word I can think of to describe it is “staggering”. Advertisement Arrival starts with a world-ending event: the death of a child. In a 2-minute opening montage, the brief life of 12-year-old Hannah elapses with cruel linearity. What little we see of her in the film we mostly sense through her mother, Louise (Amy Adams), and the way that Hannah’s presence and absence come to shape a defining moment of human history. Louise is a linguist who is called upon in unlikely circumstances: a mysterious craft, hundreds of metres tall, has landed in Montana – one of 12 such “shells” around the world. The US Army is trying desperately to assess what the life forms inside it want and whether they pose a threat. Partnered with physicist Ian (Jeremy Renner), who would rather approach the aliens through the purity of maths, Louise is given the near-impossible task of translating for these strange, striking, seven-limbed “heptapods”. It is fascinating to watch Louise slowly work out the heptapods’ means of communication Arrival‘s script is beautifully spare. Appropriately enough for a film about language, it conveys a great deal with every exchange between the people who have converged on Montana. When Louise and Ian arrive at the military camp, a scientist reveals that the heptapods usher the humans out of their craft after around 2 hours, apparently to prevent them suffocating. CIA agent David Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) questions why it takes 18 hours to establish contact again. In a lesser film, this would be a load-bearing piece of plot, explicated simply to justify a later happenstance. Here, it is rich with theme. When Ian explains that differences between the heptapods’ atmosphere and our own could affect how long it takes to pump in fresh air, agent Halpern’s response is: “So you’re saying they could suffocate us if they wanted?” The aliens’ intent, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder, and Louise is one of vanishingly few people with the skills to unravel what is actually going on. To do so, she has to talk relativity – linguistic relativity, that is, the idea that the structure and style of the language we use influences our perception. It is fascinating to watch her slowly work out the heptapods’ means of communication, and how, in turn, to present this knowledge to her human compatriots without triggering all-out war. On top of all this delicious intellectualism, Arrival is a stunningly shot film. Villeneuve and cinematographer Bradford Young work wonders with the hermetic interior of the heptapods’ inky black shell. Aside from a few bits of dodgy CGI, nothing about Arrival has aged. It is as heartbreaking and life-affirming as ever. And if reports that Villeneuve is set to direct an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama are correct, then we can be grateful he hasn’t yet left the realm of sci-fi behind. Bethan also recommends… Book Extraterrestrial Languages Daniel Oberhaus How should we talk to aliens? If the questions posed in Arrival make you want to find out more, try this primer, which draws on ideas from maths, linguistics and philosophy Film Dune; Dune: Part Two Denis Villeneuve Getting it right once takes talent. Getting it right twice takes brilliance. While we wait to see if Villeneuve will pull off a hat trick with Dune: Part Three, why not revisit the previous films? Bethan Ackerley is a subeditor at New Scientist. She loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything spooky. Follow her on X @inkerley