8.7/10
FilmFascination Rating
A marriage considered to be perfect turns out to have a deceptive outward appearance. Nick Dunne (a writer for men’s magazine) and Amy, the daughter of a snobby mother who is the writer of a beloved children’s book ‘Amazing Amy’ which plagiarized her childhood, seem to be perfect for each other at first. This could be understood by the snippets of Amy’s diary voiced over by her. But as it turns out, even the perfect ones can rot when one of the people in the relationship messes up. On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne returns home to find his wife, Amy, missing under mysterious circumstances. After all, Nick isn’t the perfect guy he was pretending to be which leads their marriage to be soulless.
The distrust and dissatisfaction with each other eventually lead them to hate each other to the extent that Amy feels unwanted in her own house. The disappearance instantly grabs the media’s attention due to which Nick finds himself fighting for innocence. Even the people close to him start to doubt his innocence because of the American sweetheart type of image that had been created for Amy by the media. Media surely plays one of the important parts in the movie. Is Amy dead? At least she is presumed so. And Nick? He clearly might be the murderer. I mean they already had a troubled marriage. But things aren’t that simple.
Amy also had some messy relationships with her past boyfriends. A boyfriend who had raped her. And another rich boyfriend who was obsessed with her. Though Nick might not be the murderer, he still isn’t the purest soul in the world. He has his own secrets. After all he doesn’t know his wife’s friends or her blood type. Also we cannot find any clarity when he speaks to Rhonda Boney (the detective investigating the case). But besides all this is Amy innocent? Eventually, the movie becomes clearer to the audience and grabs their attention throughout the movie with its unexpected twists. Probably not every twist was intelligent and for that matter even necessary. Nevertheless, it is everything together that makes Gone Girl what it is.
It is transparent in what it is doing and is bold in displaying what they really want to show. The movie shows the media’s strength and how much it means to us what the world thinks about us. In fact, some of the most critical decisions in the movie have been made by considering the vision of the world about us. A marriage that seemed to have some problems takes no time to turn into living hell. With media making their own stories, Rhonda Boney trying to unveil the truth, and Nick carrying out his own investigation to find what really had happened, the viewers have to consider different perspectives at the same time to conclude what had actually happened. Fincher (director) is well-versed in misdirecting the viewers.
Gone Girl is a film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel of the same name. David Fincher’s musical brief to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross was based upon a visit he paid to a spa wherein the music meant to relax him he perceived as creepy and made him feel uncomfortable. This gave him the idea to set the music as though it is passive and relaxing, but actually instills a sense of dread.
Throughout the film, I was hoping for justice, but the film had much more to offer. The film starts with Nick caressing Amy’s head and thinking about cracking open her skull to understand what she is thinking about is surely something the audience would like to do too. We can never decipher her next move.
The movie is captivating from the very beginning. Especially the contrasting nature of the flashbacks and present that the movie goes back and forth with is a smart style of grabbing the audience’s attention. With David Fincher being the director, you would expect the thrill, the adrenaline rush. And boy does he do a good job? You can feel yourself on the edge throughout the movie. It also has quite a lot of (you know) the ‘Oh Shit, now what?’ type of moments. Only when you think you know what is going to happen next is when the movie surprises you with a twist. The end primarily kind of takes you aback. It is surely not something you were expecting. It is intelligent and kind of mesmerizing, yet again proving that David Fincher is gonna make the end worthwhile.
The entire cast had a crucial role in carrying this movie to its true potential. Rosamund Pike (Amy Dunne) is really good in the movie. Her character is especially hypnotizing. She went from a girl who is perfect to someone who I was utterly scared of. Never knowing what her character (Amy) was capable of. For her character she took inspiration for Nicole Kidman’s performance in To Die For (1995) and Sharon Stone’s in Basic Instinct (1992). Ben Affleck (Nick Dunne) has a type of smile that has innocence but is also mysteriously devilish. Somehow you cannot figure out which it is in the movie. For his character he researched and studied several men who were accused and convicted of killing their wives (particularly Scott Peterson). Even the supporting actors Neil Patrick Harris (Amy’s obsessed Boyfriend), Tyler Perry (Nick’s lawyer) and Carrie Coon (Nick’s sister) have given good performances.
FAVOURITE QUOTES
Nick Dunne: When I think of my wife, I always think of the back of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers. The primal questions of a marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?
Amy Dunne: When two people love each other and they can’t make that work, that’s the real tragedy.
Officer Jim Gilpin: You ever hear the expression the simplest answer is often the correct one?
Detective Rhonda Boney: Actually, I have never found that to be true.
Margo Dunne: Everyone knows that ‘complicated’ is a code word for bitch.
Amy Dunne: We’re so cute. I wanna punch us in the face.
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