In this way, Louise’s memories from her daughter’s life serve as the thematic throughline of the story, while the alien language storyline acts as the main plot. The short story starts on the night Louise’s daughter is conceived, with Louise presumably telling her daughter “the story of your life.” The chronology is unclear at first, with the narrative jumping around to various moments in the daughter’s life while continuously returning to Louise’s attempt to decipher and learn the heptapod language. The movie adds several supporting characters who do not appear in the short story - General Shang, Agent Halpern, and Captain Marks - and gives a name to Louise’s daughter, who appears but is unnamed in the short story.Īdditionally, while much about the two main alien heptapods is the same, their nomenclature is varied - Flapper and Raspberry in the short story, Abbott and Costello in the movie. The former’s name remains the same in Villeneuve’s film (played by Forest Whitaker), while the latter’s is changed to Ian Donnelly (played by Jeremy Renner). In the short story, she is joined by Colonel Weber and a physicist named Gary.

Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams in the movie), a brilliant linguist who is tasked with finding a way to communicate with the alien life forms that have arrived on Earth. The basic premise of the story remained unchanged in the adaptation from short story to feature film - while telling the story of her daughter’s life, a linguist recounts her experience deciphering and learning an alien language. More info coming soon | Remind Me What's It About?

Story of your life ted chiang