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Explore the film at Paramount Availability and pricing vary by region.ArrivalA movie brief.
2016 / Science fiction / Directed by Denis Villeneuve
First contact. A different kind of conversation.
What is Arrival about?
When alien spacecraft arrive around the world, translator Louise Banks joins the effort to understand their visitors. Fear is spreading faster than understanding, and a misunderstanding could become a global crisis.
Five things to know.
The starting point
Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is asked to decipher an unfamiliar language.
The pressure
Governments want answers before they know how to ask the right questions.
The stakes
Communication becomes a matter of survival, not simply translation.
The shape of the film
Denis Villeneuve directs a science-fiction drama built around an encounter with the unknown.
Before you press play
The film runs 116 minutes. This brief deliberately leaves its discoveries and ending untouched.
A thought to take with you.
The premise makes translation a problem of trust as well as vocabulary. Louise Banks has to develop an understanding before governments act on an incomplete one. A useful question is who gets to decide that a message has been understood: the specialist learning how to communicate, or the people who must make a decision under pressure? That tension gives the first-contact setup a human scale without needing to reveal its discoveries.
Is it your kind of movie?
Try it if the question of understanding another mind interests you as much as the idea of meeting aliens.
Sources & scope
This AI-assisted brief draws on the linked descriptions and production information. Facts and interpretation are separated; it does not claim personal viewing or independent expert review.
Source details checked October 10, 2026. Suggest a correction · Our editorial approach