20 Things You Didn't Know About Arrival
2. Playing With Palindromes
Some would say that the bookended structure of Arrival, as well as its non-linear storyline, makes it some sort of filmic palindrome. While this is not exactly accurate at least as far as the film’s structure is considered, certain elements in it do fit the word’s description. After the feature’s main events, Louise and Ian have a daughter named Hannah, a word that also doubles as a palindrome.
This is fitting because the young girl’s most crucial moments (her life and death) happen in the film’s bookends. The Heptapods’ language is also palindromic, at least visually. Depicted as logograms, Louise and the other experts note that it expresses meaning despite not having sound as a part of it, and most importantly, reflects their non-linear experience of time.
Sonically, On the Nature of Daylight’s violin arrangement is palindromic in nature, and its sublime use in the film’s opening and closing scenes is very apt, given the scenes’ emotional weight.