It’s been a long time since a movie left me spellbound, but Gone Girl did just that.
Based on the 2012 book of the same name, this two-and-a-half-hour epic is a stunningly complex film. The chilling tale is set in a small quaint town in Missouri, in the United States’ mid west.
Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne. PICTURE: 20th Century Fox
Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, a charismatic but washed-up journalist who seems distant to the society he lives in. We begin Dunne’s story on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary to wife Amy Dunne, played by Rosamund Pike of Bond villain fame. He returns home to find his wife is missing, triggering an intensive search by authorities and the inevitable media circus that comes with it.
Ben Affleck plays husband Nick Dunne. PHOTO: 20th Century Fox
Gillian Flynn, who wrote both the book and screenplay, masterfully intertwines the story with narrative flashbacks using entries from Amy’s diary.
The psychological mystery that follows tests the audience’s sense of allegiance and challenges traditional narrative forms.
Director David Fincher brings his simplistic grey style to the film, similar to his previous work on The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He brilliantly creates a feeling of emptiness around Nick, despite being surrounded by hundreds of people trying to help find his wife.
Fincher called upon the musical talents of Trent Reznor (lead singer of Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Rose to create one of the most captivating elements of the movie. The Oscar-winning pair once again delivered a chilling score, exacerbating the terrifyingly dark nature of the plot and characters.
The cast is thrilling; it’s hard to find a flawed performance. Neil Patrick Harris’ is particularly creepy as jilted lover Desi Collings. Rosamund Pike’s tender voice comes across with a fitting contradiction. She seems passive yet exudes confidence.
PHOTO: 20th Century Fox
Gone Girl is a snapshot of media prejudice – at least of US media and how it covers crime – and the intense whirlwind of speculation that can not only hinder the truth but serve hidden agendas.
While Australian outlets can sometimes be outrageously insensitive in similar situations, it’s rare for judgement to be passed on a suspect so blatantly by media personalities – and especially not as intensely as Gone Girl character Ellen Abbott, a viciously divisive TV host.
At one point, while deconstructing the case, she shows a photo of Nick posing with a girl at the missing person headquarters.
“This photo is just … I don’t know a better word than ‘disgusting’. This is not how an innocent man looks,” she says.
This is not how a case would play out in Australia’s media.
PHOTO: 20th Century Fox
The film has already proven a blockbuster, topping the US and Australian box offices on its opening weekend, with social media seeming to fuel much of the interest in it.
Gone Girl leaves you mesmerised in a similar way to Inception or The Matrix. For this reason, my strongest advice is to not see the film late at night as I did. You’ll walk out past midnight, mind still spinning, without any inclination to sleep.
But no matter what time you brave the film, it’s absolutely worth it.
Twitter: @angusleddo
