I'm glad you brought up non-linear time element. That is what stuck with me for days after I saw the film. Extremely difficult subject to tackle and IMO Arrival did a decent job of it. I feel the entire flashback/flash forward was distracting until the next day I realized it represented non-linear time. A subject I've had a hard time wrapping my head around and I find fascinating.

My daughter brought up Interstellar as another movie dealing with non-linear time. In each movie, non-linear time wasn't the subject of the movie but played a role in it. I can see where it would be easily missed by a lay person. I wonder how many other movies inferred non-linear time that I missed?

BTW, if quantum subject matters interest you, try Coherence, 2013.

I think the movie does play a little deception on the audience. At the start of the movie she hasn't encountered the aliens so it's not possible for us to see the forward flash scenes and yet we do. You could suggest that's a plot hole or plot contrivance. How can we see her future BEFORE she's encountered the aliens? They grant her the gift of non-linear time recollection but that takes place in the second act of the story, not at the start.

fan_of_films - that's exactly the point - you are approaching it and viewing it as linear time (things happen in a certain order). This premise is non-linear time does not work that way.

@fan_of_films said:

I think the movie does play a little deception on the audience. At the start of the movie she hasn't encountered the aliens so it's not possible for us to see the forward flash scenes and yet we do. You could suggest that's a plot hole or plot contrivance. How can we see her future BEFORE she's encountered the aliens? They grant her the gift of non-linear time recollection but that takes place in the second act of the story, not at the start.

Although it isn't very important because the movie doesn't have to tell the story in a linear fashion but if you want the story telling it to be completely linear apart from the flash forwards of course then it is possible that she had already encountered the aliens previously as the chosen one to unite the world and help the aliens 3000 years in the future. Of course, the aliens know what is going to happen in the future so they could have visited Earth before so that the movie made complete sense for you

I struggle to follow some normal linear movies let alone non-linear ones!

@fan_of_films said:

I think the movie does play a little deception on the audience. At the start of the movie she hasn't encountered the aliens

circle has no beginning. That was kind of the point and you missed it. It's ok, you'll just have to learn the alien language, you'll get it then!