When Louise started to experience time in a nonlinear fashion I was immediately was reminded of Slaughterhouse Five and loved how they depicted that idea, of experiencing time as a whole instead of a cross-section. The central misunderstanding around the weapon/gift message was a goddamned brilliant exploration of humanity that in hindsight I should have picked up on during the kangaroo anecdote given that it was a part that I remembered well from my first viewing. People mentioning romance did kind of spoil the ending for me because what else was going to happen? Still, I thought that the parts with Hannah were flashbacks until she went into the shell with Costello I think? Or was it Abbot? The one that didn't die.

Yeah it's not often that a twist legitimately makes me go, "Oh ****!", but when she went into the ship for the last time I was knocked outta my seat. Even after the movie was over I was talking to my friend just trying to figure out just how the time **** worked.

I still didn't get how she was supposed to know the Chinese dude's wife's last words, but then I realized that they might be hinting that while she's becoming one with her past and future selves that she might also be merging with everyone and time itself.

Head go kablooie.

I think the general knew he had to tell her that because he was smart enough to figure out it initially came from him, in the future. It's been 18 months, there is peace and prosperity and she published a book about this language - I assume this time perception shift is widely known by then, if not widely understood. I took it as a nod towards the general, who started out as a cliche bad guy and ended up a humbled, sensible man.

What bugs me still is .. well, is there free will ? if time is non linear and past and future events can be observed, is there any choice ? Could Louise have chosen not to have a child ? Did she really choose or did she just surrender to the inevitable ? Heptapods knew what was going to happen in 3000 years .. not once did they hint this might happen, it will happen. Is there free will ?

But the only thing that changed his mind was her call from the past, and if she hadn't seen the future when he told her what he needed to hear in the past then she wouldn't have been able to change his mind. It's a pretty clear time paradox that I can only make sense of if humanity is beginning to evolve into some kind of gestalt entity.

And if I had to guess I'd say the idea of free will is left up to interpretation, as it's said that she chose to have a child, even while it was also implied by the aliens that everything was preordained. Both perceptions might be subjectively correct depending on which species you ask, and I don't think the movie made it clear one way or the other.

I think that in the early stages of her experiencing time in a nonlinear fashion, her mind didn't see time as a whole yet. So her mind projected relevant things from the future, which is why I think she had the zero sum game discussion with her daughter when they're looking at the Offer Weapons message.

No I get that. But no matter what order she saw events there should have been no way for her to have information from another human being who would never have given her that information had she not already given him that information that she should never have had in the first place. The only way would be if his past was also becoming her present.

I'm assuming that's what we're still talking about.