Gone Girl

Directed by David Fincher
Starring Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck and Neil Patrick Harris
In Cinemas October 2nd, 2014

by Joanna Orland

Adapted for the screen by novelist Gillian Flynn, David Fincher’s Gone Girl is a dark and deeply disturbing thriller.  The film is a he-said, she-said story about a seemingly perfect married woman gone missing, exploring what it is to live in a society where mania takes over with media in the driver’s seat.  At the heart of every good David Fincher movie is a psychopath (or sociopath in the case of The Social Network).  With a crime so heinous, Gone Girl delivers easily on this front, but as any David Fincher fan knows, it is also the case that nothing is what it seems.  

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returns home on the day of his fifth wedding anniversary to find signs of a struggle in his home and his wife nowhere to be found.  Through flashbacks and excerpts from his wife Amy’s (Rosamund Pike) journal, the story of their once blessed union is told and begins to unravel leaving everyone to question if perhaps Nick has killed his wife.

Suspense, tension, lies, deceit, Gone Girl is a modern film noir set to the sinister and perfect soundtrack of Trent Reznor’s and Atticus Ross’ music, both of whom are not strangers to collaborating with Fincher.  The droning score and the bleak visuals are merely scene setters as performances by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike are what give this film its punch (and Judy).  Ben Affleck is as real as he’s ever been on screen in a role that he claimed due to director Fincher’s Google search of his creepy smile.  A smile that has Amy supporters doubting Nick’s innocence as far as his wife’s disappearance is concerned.

In the same vain as many Fincher films previous, the main character’s inner thoughts are relayed to the audience via narration.  Pike delivers Amy’s journal writings monotonously and superficially, but it holds true to the character she is portraying.  Her performance shines in the scenes where her character is seen more than heard.  She is very captivating to watch in this role.

The tale unfolds in different time periods, none of its truths ringing entirely true, but with Fincher in control of what the audience is told it’s hard to know exactly what to believe as true or false.  It is however safe to believe that Fincher is a master of his craft as he has created one of the most disturbing thrillers of modern cinema.