Denis Villeneuve’s first success in San Francisco
In 2016, Denis Villeneuve acquired the reputation as a great science fiction director as we know him today. In fact, that year, shortly after the release of his crime thriller Hitmanrealizes First contact. It will come later Blade Runner 2049 AND Duna: first part.
First contact tells of the appearance on earth of several mysterious extraterrestrial ships, which are stationed a few meters above the ground, in different places around the world. Their intentions are unknown. Unot a linguistics expertLouise Banks (Amy Adams) is then recruited by the US Army to try to establish contact with them and prevent a military operation from being launched against these “invaders”.
A film with a complex idea
Managing to enter one of these ships, Louise Banks attempts to establish contact with the entities present, nicknamed “heptapods”. Verbal communication is impossible, but it seems that written communication is possible. The heptapods, in fact, seem to project ink onto an invisible wall, which forms a circle composed of apparently indecipherable patterns. At the same time, Louise is subject to visionslike flashbacks, in which a little girl appears, then a young girl, suffering from an illness, and who seems to be her daughter – she is not a mother at that moment in the story.
The language of the aliens is the key to the situation, and the first interpretation given by the Earthlings concludes – erroneously – that they are threatening, since their sentences seem to revolve around an exchange or a gift.weaponA term alarming enough for the various armies of the world to consider attacking them. In reality, the extraterrestrials have come to donate their language, their “tool”, synonymous in their language with “weapon”. A gift from which they await the return of the earthlings… 3000 years After.
The language of extraterrestrials First contact is represented by circular drawings, and is in its concept an exploitation of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. This hypothesis claims that the perception of the world depends on language, and this consequently the way we express the world would define its concrete representation. A complex anthropological and linguistic concept, which finds application in Denis Villeneuve’s film time.
Explanation of Louise’s visions (and end of the film)
In First contactthe difficulty in understanding the language of extraterrestrials derives from the fact that this language is timeless, and refers both and at the same time to the past, present and future. Unlike human language, which is strictly linear and it depends on the passage of time.
Once Louise understands the aliens’ language, these visions make sense. These are not flashbacks or hallucinations, but visions future. Visions that are the consequence of it Assistant which he received by understanding their language. So, one of the last visions of him concerns a future meeting with General Shang, who thanks her for making him change his mind at the last moment about the aliens, while he was preparing to attack them. In the present she urgently calls the general, using the number he noticed in her vision of him, and repeats the words they would exchange in the future.
In the last sequence of the film (video above), which mixes the present and visions, we then understand who the young woman in Louise’s previous visions was. This is the daughter she will have with Ian, the physicist played by Jeremy Renner and whom she met when the aliens arrived.
In this final vision, Ian asks her if she wants to have a child. Louise replies “yes”, even though she knows that beforehandTheir child will die of an incurable disease, and that they will separate at the end of this drama. Hence all the beautiful but terrible emotion of this shocking finale, set to Max Richter’s magnificent composition, and these heartbreaking words:
Even knowing where the journey leads, I accept it. And I welcome every moment of him with joy.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
