Gone Girl

It’s been a long time since we had a movie quite like David Fincher’s new pop masterwork Gone Girl. Designed with precision to appeal to both fans of the best-selling novel and people who have never heard of it, this is a rich, confident thriller about the elusive nature of intimacy.

Nick and Amy Dunne’s marriage is at the center of Gone Girl, which begins on the morning of their fifth anniversary. Amy (Rosamund Pike) goes missing. The police begin their investigation, search parties are organized, and all eyes begin to turn to Nick as the culprit. As Nick (Ben Affleck) finds himself vilified, the film flashes back to the beginnings of their relationship. These sections are narrated by Amy, via her diary. We see a once-happy life in New York turned sour by financial troubles, unwanted moves, and possible abuse. This leaves us asking “Did Nick murder his wife? Could he?”

That summary is as much as can be revealed. Flynn’s novel was one of the best-sellers of 2012, and very few who have read it are unable to resist its charms once they begin reading. The pleasures of the book are the pleasures of the film, which means it’s more than a challenge to discuss the picture without spoiling anything — it’s almost impossible.

David Fincher, however, is a director who’s made a career out of tackling the impossible.  Along with Flynn, who wrote the screenplay, they’ve emphasized the dark humor and found subtle ways to execute the book’s most memorable moments. Fincher’s visualization of Amy’s famous “Cool Girl” monologue had me cackling. Yet I couldn’t help but think by highlighting the humor of the piece, they missed tying together some of the book’s thematic richness. Much of the anticipation has centered around the film’s argument-inspiring ending. I felt it was different but ultimately faithful to the spirit of the book.

That spirit is captured in the acting. Chief among them are the leads, Pike and Affleck. Pike, a British actress seen in An Education and The World’s End, is stunning here. Pike inhabits the mysterious qualities of Amy, often with a look or the way she chooses to stand. She’s mercurial, warm, erotic, and heartbreaking. Her voice will linger in your head long after the movie’s complete. It’s a perfect portrayal that makes Amy one of the most fascinating characters in contemporary cinema.

Affleck is nearly as good, with an easy charm that begs you to like him despite his failures. Over the course of the film, though, he reveals the cracks in that charm, showing flashes of the bitter rage beneath. It leaves you guessing at Amy’s fate, but not enough of Nick’s internalized misogyny makes it on screen. Nick never comes off as a really bad guy, just a dumb and lazy one, leaving Affleck the best and least served by this adaptation.

Gone Girl is filled with a cast of memorable character actors. Neil Patrick Harris is Amy’s arch ex, oozing wealth, privilege, and obsession. The arch role serves as a dark mirror for How I Met Your Mother fans. Tyler Perry arrives midway through as Nick’s lawyer, Tanner Bolt, and almost steals the movie with cool asides cutting to the movie’s twisted core. This is a film where every performance hits all the right notes.

The team behind the camera is on point, too. Fincher and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth rely on natural light to capture scenes that evoke Gregory Crewdson’s unsettling beauty. The editing by Kirk Baxter lingers when necessary, but doesn’t revel in the film’s occasionally shocking violence. A score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross slips from romantic beauty to ominous Musak to pulsing, tense notes and back around again.

Throughout Gone Girl, cast and crew work in tandem to craft a masterpiece of commercial entertainment. Time and time again, the film returns to its themes of marriage, of decay, of identity. Who are we when we fall in love? What is intimacy but someone who knows if you’re capable of murder? The film wraps these questions around a biting media satire and a subtle portrait of recession-era America, neither of which overwhelms the piece’s suspenseful tone.

Not since 1997’s L.A. Confidential has a mainstream thriller been this confident and worthwhile. It’s a reminder of how twisted, how artful, and how much fun this genre can be. You just need to be in the hands of a master.

Gone Girl. 150 min. Dir. David Fincher. Scr. Gillian Flynn, based on her novel. Starring Ben Affleck (Nick Dunne), Rosamund Pike (Amy Elliot Dunne), Neil Patrick Harris (Desi Collings), Tyler Perry (Tanner Bolt), Carrie Coon (Margo Dunne), Kim Dickens (Det. Rhonda Boney), Patrick Fugit (Off. Jim Gilpin) and Casey Wilson (Noelle Hawthorne). Rated R for scenes of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity and language.

Brendan M. Leonard is a senior in the Literary Studies department at The New School.