10 Movies That Only Make Sense At The End

Denis Villeneuve's Arrivals is without a doubt one of the best sci-fi films of the last decade, a smart and deeply-felt exploration of grief, global politics, and the way we perceive the world around us.

A heart-wrenching opening montage appears to reveal that protagonist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) has suffered through the loss of her young daughter from an incurable illness.

But only deep into the film's third act is it revealed that these events haven't yet happened, but are experienced as a result of Louise's brain being "re-wired" after learning the invading aliens' language, allowing her to perceive time in non-linear fashion.

Even so, the full context of this flash-forward is only made fully clear in the film's jaw-dropper of an ending, where Louise realises that she conceives her daughter with colleague Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), and he eventually leaves her after she reveals that she knew what was going to happen.

With the film's unique exploration of time and how we as humans experience it, Arrival is a lot to take in on a first viewing, and even after that stunning finale reveals all, you'll probably want to go back and watch it again from the beginning. Whatever the beginning means in this movie, anyway.