Gone Girl (2014)

If you're not familiar with David Fincher, he started out in music videos, highly stylized music videos like Madonna's 'Vogue,' Johnny Hates Jazz's 'Shattered Dreams,' Paula Abdul's 'Cold Hearted,' Billy Idol's 'Cradle of Love,' and George Michael's 'Freedom! 90.' By 1992, he had moved on to directing movies: Se7en (1995), The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002), The Social Network (2010), and most recently 2014's 'Gone Girl.'

Throughout the years, Fincher has perfected his craft, creating films that unfold like an onion, evoking a mood and revealing things bit by bit. 'Gone Girl' is no exception. From its beginning, Fincher envokes a mood -- ominous, foreboding -- and doesn't let up once.

The movie starts with Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) stroking his wife, Amy's (Rosamund Pike), hair, as his voiceover says, "When I think of my wife, I always think of her head." There's a pause and he adds, "I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers." Not expecting that, that violence... It sets the tone for the movie. He continues: "The primal questions of a marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we *done* to each other?" Amy looks up at him (the camera). Fade out.

Next we see Nick taking out the trash, then standing in his driveway, looking stymied. Something feels off. He's standing there too long. Nick heads to work: The Bar, which he owns with his twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon), aka 'Go.'

We meet Amy through a flashback. Her voice over announces that she's "so crazy, stupid happy... [she] met a boy." We see how she and Nick first met - and I'm reminded of all those 30s movies with the snappy banter. These are two attractive, likeable people, people you wish were as cool as.

In the present, Nick drinks some bourbon. He and Go play 'Life' -- adults playing a kid's game. Is there some meaning in that? It's obvious that he dreads what's in store: Amy's anniversary treasure hunt (year #5). As he phrases it: "the forced march designed to point out what an uncaring, oblivious asshole I am." It's obvious that the love has left the marriage.

Nick gets a call from a neighbor, telling him that his cat is outside. He returns home to find no Amyu and signs of a struggle in the living room. The neighbor hears him yell for Amy. Nick quickly calls the police. Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and Officer James Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) arrive and do a walk-through of the house. Boney makes a comment about Amy being 'Amazing Amy,' the inspiration for an incredibly popular series of children's books written by Amy's parents.

Flashback reveals that Amy hates Amazing Amy (and how beloved they are by everyone) and has a rather cold, almost detached relationship with her parents. Her parents seem self-absorbed; they're focused more on themselves than how Amy feels. In the newest book, Amazing Amy is getting married and it's obvious that Amy hates her parents rubbing her shortcomings in her face (since Amazing Amy always did things better than she did). Nick saves the day by proposing.

Boney interviews Nick. He's helpful but doesn't seem to know much about his wife. Boney discovers he hasn't called his in-laws. She's a little shocked and he makes an excuse about no cell service. He calls them using a phone at the station. The call leaves him feeling belittled, and then he discovers his father (who suffers from dementia) in the next room. The officer with him says that they've been calling for hours, which frustrates him further and Boney observes his outburst.

Nick takes his father back to the Assisted Living facility Dad wandered away from. He gets out of there as fast as he can. No love lost between them.

Another flashback, and Amy's V.O. paints a scene of wedded bliss.

Nick goes and stays at Go's house so that they can process the crime scene. Go is worried.

It's definitely blood spatter in the house and everything is in Amy's name. Gilpin thinks that sounds like motive. They find an envelope marked 'Clue One.'

Press conference with Amy's parents. It's as if they're using the publicity to promote their latest Amazing Amy book. Nick is a cold fish. Reporters want him to pose next to Amy's missing poster. He looks annoyed and then makes the mistake of smiling for the cameras.

Afterward, Amy's parents supply Boney with a suitcase's worth of 'Amy files' -- wow, I really don't like these people. It's like Amy's some thing rather than some *one.* They provide some people to look into: Amy's high school ex, Desi, who was 'obsessed.' A man, Tommy O'Hara, from 8 years ago, who got violent when Amy broke up with him. But nothing recent.

Clue One leads Boney and Nick to his office and a lacy red thong. On his desk is another clue which Nick pretends he doesn't know the answer to. Doesn't look good.

Flashback with the marriage starting to turn sour. Nick gets laid off. Amy lends her parents almost a $1M from her trust fund (without talking to Nick first).

Nick figures out the second clue. He goes to his dad's house and finds the third clue, which he hides from Boney when she appears.

Flashback: Nick and Amy start to fight because of money.

'Bring Amy Home' party, aka the Find Amy headquarters. Boney's still giving Nick the benefit of the doubt, but Gilpin has decided that he doesn't like him. Nick gets cornered by a groupie and makes the mistake of smiling for a selfie with her. He asks her to delete it and she refuses.We already know that it's going to come back to haunt him.

A neighbor, Noelle, says that she's Amy's best friend. Nick has no idea who she is.

TV coverage starts to question Nick's innocence, pointing out how he's smiling in that picture from the press conference. That night Nick gets visited by his 20-year-old girlfriend. (So he's cheating on his wife! Potential motive.)

Amy's VO explains that they've moved back to Missouri, because Nick's mother has cancer. She feels like something he loaded by mistake... Her diary entries only get more ominous from there. They have a fight and he shoves her. She is frightened of her own husband.

Public opinion continues to turn against Nick. Candlelight vigil and Noelle drops the bombshell that Amy was pregnant. Nick had no idea. The evidence keeps piling up that Nick killed his wife. What we see of Nick makes you wonder if he really did do it, despite his protests.

Amy's VO declares that this man of hers might kill her. In the flashback, she huddles in her bed, looking absolutely terrified of her husband. And then...

We find out that Amy's not dead. She has meticulously planned everything, including her get away. This Amy is not the nice Amy that we've met. This Amy is cold, calculating and she hates her husband enough to frame him for murder.  She is excellent at manipulating people and doesn't have a problem hurting herself to sell whatever story she is telling.

The second half of the movie explores how perception and the parts that people play are what becomes truth. The voice over excerpts from Amy's diary are fabrications meant to manipulate us, and we have taken the bait. The story of Missing Amy -- and whether Nick killed her -- is shaped based on preconceived ideas and getting caught in Amy's lie, you have to ask yourself what actually is true about any of the people that you're watching.

In the second half of the show, Amy shows herself to be quite the psychopath. And Nick, you really feel sorry for him. It's easy to forget that he's been living off his wife's money and has been cheating on her for over a year. He's the sleazy married man who promises his girlfriend that he's getting a divorce but never does. By movie's end, the woman we now know that Amy is, I was quite creeped out by, and even though Nick was not a nice guy, I felt bad for him.

Fincher achieves all this through a tightly-paced script and sharp, stylized directing. Ben Affleck is excellent as Nick Dunne. He makes you feel sorry for a guy who is a jerk, not because he charms you with his smile but because he sells you on Nick's patheticness and desperation.

But the real star is Rosamund Pike. It is chilling in how well she navigates Amy's many faces and how well she illustrates just what a master manipulator Amy is.There's no regret, no remorse, no emotion at all except what is there to manipulate other people.

The movie ends as it began, with Amy's head, Nick's questions and closes with Amy looking at the camera. It's much more creepy this time, because we now know who Amy and what she is capable. I walked away from this movie wondering just how much I really know about the people around me, because everyone puts on a mask.

My rating: 8/10

Links:

IMDB page
Wikipedia page
Gone Girl Script
The New Yorker: What "Gone Girl" is Really About
The Best Writing About 'Gone Girl' Across the Web
Time.com - The 13 Biggest Differences Between the Gone Girl Movie and the Book
Time.com - Is Gone Girl Feminist or Misogynist?
Vox.com - Gone Girl is the most feminist mainstream movie in years by Todd VanDerWerff
The Huffington Post - A Psychiatrist Weighs In On Amy & Nick In ‘Gone Girl’
Grantland - Once in Love With Amy: How David Fincher Changed ‘Gone Girl’
The Dissolve - Op-ed: Understanding Gone Girl through an even nastier cinematic precedent
by Scott Tobias
Hard in the City - ‘Gone Girl’ Wild: Marriage And Media Are The Real Killers In Fincher’s Latest
TheWritePractice.com - 3 Lessons Gone Girl Teaches Writers About Suspense by Liz Bureman
David Bordwell's Observations on Film Art - A Discussion of Gone Girl
Use of Light in Fincher's 'Gone Girl'
Salon.com - “Gone Girl” didn’t botch the “cool girl” speech — it clarified it
Script Analysis: “Gone Girl” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown
TheFilmStage.com - 26 Things We Learned From David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl’

Reviews:

Roger Ebert review
New York Times review
The Telegraph review
Variety review
The Rolling Stones review
Porcupine Sundae review
MuchAdoAboutAboutNotMuch.com review