“Beautiful, twisted and brilliantly portrayed by Rosamund Pike.”
SPOILER FREE ‘Gone Girl’ directed by David Fincher originally adapted from the book with the same name by Gillian Flynn (who also wrote the film’s screenplay) tells the story of a man called Nick (Ben Affleck) with his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, this man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.
The film simply tells the story of a wife disappearing and then people and the media having their own thoughts about what is simply going on and it really examines the issues of dishonesty, the media and the economy’s effects on marriage, and appearances.
So right at the start of the film we’re able to get a glimpse of the wonderful married couple where everything fits and everything is perfect and you could actually mistake the film for being rather positive in that way as very quickly we see the absence of his wife and how that leads onwards.
David Fincher in my mind has always been good at developing strong characters in his films, if you look at anything that he’s directed ‘Seven’, ‘The Game’, ‘Fight Club’, ‘Panic Room’, ‘Zodiac’, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, ‘The Social Network’ and ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, with also directing the first two episodes of ‘House of Cards’ starring Kevin Spacey, you might be able to think of many characters in those films which were very strong but also slightly relatable. I’ve always seen ‘The Social Network’ as David Fincher’s strongest piece of work in the way where the characters are so ruthless but at the same time bringing out the ugliness that is in most of us, and I think a director has to work very hard in order to do that.
The romance between the character’s of Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike is quite cathartic and wonderful in the way where it just puts a smile on your face. It’s relatable and very personal.
Throughout the film we have various cutbacks to the past relationship and then back to the present of trying to find his wife so you’ve got this wonderful mix which really works when you’re moving back and forth like that. I found that every time the film went back I was looking forward to seeing the present and then vice versa. There was not a second I was watching it where I wasn’t engaged with what was happening, it was completely engrossing.
The fact is, that the film actually isn’t so much about trying to find somebody that’s lost, it’s mainly trying to analyse Nick (Ben Affleck’s character) and how he is dealing with situation.
Out of everything that I can say about the film, one of the things that I loved was just how honest it was. I felt like it analysed marriage and the media from a very neutral point of view and actually just how ugly we can be. Now this is tough because the film really speaks about our ugly and selfish desires and actually how easy it is to grab hold of them and use them against somebody else. And there is this whole thing throughout about the media and the paparazzi and just how quickly people turn against you when all you’ve shown to them is just your absence.
There’s a particular scene in the film where Nick has to win the public over otherwise he feels like it could almost be the end for him, and at that point you’re just thinking’ What, Why?’ “Why does it matter what other people think?” When actually he realises that in order for him to do what he needs to do to get his wife back is to have everybody on his side, it’s crazy. The film is very scary in that way, just how honest it is, whilst at the same time we realise it’s honesty and how that reflects on us as human beings and civilisation.
The film is shot on beautiful 6K resolution and it is stunning in the way that it’s shot, I’ve always admired Fincher’s style of having many shot’s just static, so you feel just like an observer in a room staring at what is happening.
It’s a psychological thriller that even though with it’s lengthy running time of 149 minutes I was never bored and just wanted to see what was going to happen next, so it’ll be interesting what it’l be like to see it again when it comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, just wow! Fantastic and very believable/relatable performances. All round it’s not a film to be missed this year.
★★★★
Hudson-Cook 