Director: David Fincher; Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris; Story and Screenplay: Gillian Flynn; Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenweth; Editor: Kirk Baxter; Musical Director: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross; Producers: Leslie Dixon, Bruna Papandrea, Reese Witherspoon; Genre: Drama-Suspense; Location: Missouri; Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics; Running Time: 149 minutes;
Technical assessment: 4 Moral Assessment: 2.5
MTRCB : R13 CINEMA rating: V18
Nick
Dunne (Affleck) comes home on his 5th wedding anniversary but instead he finds
his house in disarray and his wife, Amy (Pike), missing. The media pick up on
the story as Amy is a celebrated New York children’s book author and the entire
community begins to support the search for her. The local police, led by
Detective Boney (Dickens), uncover a trail of clues supposedly left by Amy for
Nick’s anniversary treasure hunting, and evidence against Nick’s violent nature
and murder cover up begin to surface. The Nick and Amy love story unfold from
opposing views of Nick’s narration and Amy’s diary, but the truth is soon learnt.
David
Fincher’s Gone Girl is a flawless
adaptation of its literary counterpart. Viewers hold their breath as much as
the readers did at every turn of Gillian Flynn’s book. The plot is a genius of
a narrative with unexpected reveals and intelligent developments. The
unparalleled timelines and non-linear storytelling heighten the tension of the
mystery like the flawless icing of a perfectly baked cake intoxicating the
viewers to hang on to each scene. Love gone sour is not a new storyline but in
the creative visions of Flynn and Fincher, the ill-fated Nick-Amy love affair
turns brilliantly evocative. Affleck, Pike and Dickens deliver a restrained but
powerful interpretation of their characters. So do all the other supporting and
minor casts who play their roles with deliberate passion and rawness. The
screenplay is witty and almost haunting. There are several memorable and
quotable lines, not only because of the cadence and rhythm but because viewers
feel these lines are spoken directly to them. The ending might not work well
with everyone but it does disturb deep enough to make the viewer flinch and
rethink his personal life. Gone Girl
is one of those masterfully adapted films that work with or without the book.
Gone Girl pokes at two things: marriage
on trial and media giving trial. On the one hand, we see ordinary couple
falling in and out of love, building and breaking a relationship. While Amy’s
character has some psychological issues that probably rationalize her crimes,
we have to see how Nick and Amy decided to move on with their marriage when
faced with a financial crisis at first and emotional crisis eventually.
Marriage needs work from both parties. Working to keep the marriage requires
two ingredients: honesty
and
selflessness. These go beyond simple commitment and romance because when a
partner decides to live for himself and bend the truth, a relationship is
doomed.
On
the other hand, we see how razor sharp media is in sensationalizing to the
point of satire. Did media live up to its purpose to expose the truth or a
truth that sells? Did media become a stronghold for the voiceless or was it
merely a reenactment of selective voices that make the ratings? Media in Gone Girl is a mockery of the profession as it is in real life
these days. Sadly, a lot of people choose to buy and swallow sensationalism
rather than become discerning and informed viewers.
