When Does the Film "Contact" (1997) Take Place?
"Contact" is a science fiction film written by Carl Sagan with Ann Druyan, James V. Hart, and Michael Goldenberg [adapting "Contact" (1985) by Carl Sagan] and released July 11th, 1997.
It takes place in the years:
We know this because a news reporter midway through the movie mentions "a rash of mass suicides not unlike the recent cult deaths near San Diego"???, this references the famous and tragic Heaven's Gate cult mass suicide pact which happened in March of 1997 AD.
The first flashback (the second scene of the narrative) takes place when Ellie is very young. When Doctor Ellie Arroway meets S. R. Hadden face-to-face, he reveals he has been researching her by stating that she was "born 25th August 1964" AD and "graduated from high school in 1979" AD "almost two full years early". She is younger??? than in the next flashback, which happens when she's 8-years-old in 1972 AD, so it must be sometime between when she's able to speak in around 1967 AD and 1972 AD. It is otherwise unplaceable.
1993 AD - 1997 AD
We know this because a news reporter midway through the movie mentions "a rash of mass suicides not unlike the recent cult deaths near San Diego"???, this references the famous and tragic Heaven's Gate cult mass suicide pact which happened in March of 1997 AD.
There is a time setting title card roughly a quarter through the story that reads "FOUR YEARS LATER". This means the first part of the main action takes place earlier, in 1993 AD.
1997 - 4 = 1993.
The first flashback (the second scene of the narrative) takes place when Ellie is very young. When Doctor Ellie Arroway meets S. R. Hadden face-to-face, he reveals he has been researching her by stating that she was "born 25th August 1964" AD and "graduated from high school in 1979" AD "almost two full years early". She is younger??? than in the next flashback, which happens when she's 8-years-old in 1972 AD, so it must be sometime between when she's able to speak in around 1967 AD and 1972 AD. It is otherwise unplaceable.
The second flashback takes place when she is "about 8-years-old", so it must be 1972 AD.
The third flashback is (later in the story, retroactively) specifically dated to "November 10, 1974" AD and then a second point in the following days or weeks when she is 10-years-old. Both of these scenes are therefore presumably during 1974 AD.
Near the end of the film, there's another jump after the narrative's main action occurs that comes with a time setting title card reading "18 MONTHS LATER?". That puts this epilogue in mid to late 1998 AD.
1997 + 18. = 6.1998.
