With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Gone Girl the adaptation by David Fincher of Gillian Flynn's 2012 bestselling book to the big screen would probably be one of the most anticipated films of the year. After the highly acclaimed book with great criticism from readers, expectations were very high and given the name of the director even more. Gillian Flynn is also the one who wrote the screenplay, so would be expected to remain fairly faithful to the book.
Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) have been married for five years. On her 5th wedding anniversary Amy disappears. Nick quickly becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife or even possible death, but Gone Girl is much more than that. Not only goes through a criminal investigation, studies various characteristics of human beings and how far a human can go in pursuit of its goals.
Going back and forth between the police investigation in the present, and Amy's flashbacks where we see situations of the past, as she recounts some events while she narrates what she wrote in a diary. We follow all the steps since the two met, what marriage the two characters had and what it became. And from here there is nothing more to say, because it would remove the impact that history has on the viewer.
"We all know that marriage is hard work" we all heard this phrase before and these are words once again mentioned in this film. When couples fall into routine, and when the usual marital problems begin to appear, it has to be the ability to overcome obstacles. But sometimes it is not easy and what this story tells is the portray of the apparently perfect marriage that ends up falling in the path of lies, betrayal, abuse and deceit.
The study of each character is quite interesting. Fincher and Flynn made it in an absolutely captivating way, and in the story we can find many types of personalities. In the first hour of the film black humor is used quite often, especially with regard to Nick's character, while in the second part things change the tone getting scarier with the brilliant disclose of the story, everything always arm in arm with a dark and not less brilliant soundtrack.
The relationship with the media and the effect they have on society is discussed in a very clever way, because that's really how it all works. The media really influence what society in general can think about some topic or some particular person, manipulating the audience as they want.
Ben Affleck plays a guy apparently too relaxed, a simple performance that does not require much of him but he did it quite well and it works. The star of the film is undoubtedly Rosamund Pike, in a performance worthy of many award nominations! She is absolutely fascinating, engaging and can be sometimes (well, very often) quite haunting. An actress that after this role certainly deserves more prominent roles because until now she had a more modest career always in supporting roles. Here she shows all the potential she has to be able to do various types of roles. Nothing to point to the whole supporting cast. Neil Patrick Harris as the obsessive Amy's ex-boyfriend, flees to the register that he has done over the last few years, always stuck to comedy, here he manages to convince the audience with his good dramatic performance. Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister, very funny, is able to give us some of sarcastic laughs we give throughout the film. Tyler Perry, another actor also much associated to comedy, here has Nick's lawyer, in a role that really suits him like a glove. Last but not least, Kim Dickens also very good as the detective in charge of investigating Amy's disappearance. A cast that does a great job supporting all the intriguing story.
The gloomy and engaging atmosphere that David Fincher has accustomed us in his other films, continues to be present in this one. It is impossible to take our eyes off the screen for a second and all the captivating and mysterious atmosphere drags us into the investigation, putting the entire audience trying to reveal all the secrets between Amy and Nick.
Despite its two and a half hours long, Gone Girl is never boring and you will not lose interest and the time will fly. It is able to make us smile and scare at the same time. It is one of the best, darkest, diabolical films about marital relations I have ever seen. How far can go the insight and mental state of being human? Are we be able to do anything to get what we want? And how far can go the evil of a human being for the sake of their whims?
