Gone Girl Analysis After a Rewatch

*Light spoilers ahead, not for the end of the movie, but a couple twists in the middle*

The other day I decided to show my suite mates a movie that I hadn't seen in a while, this being David Fincher's 2014 thriller, 'Gone Girl'. To give my prior opinions regarding the film, I always really liked it. I thought it was compelling and did a good job of sticking with the viewer after the screen goes black, however, I feel like I didn't like it as much as a lot of Fincher fans do. I particularly like 'The Social Network' the best, with 'Se7en' and 'Fight Club' also being up there. This film is close to those in comparison though, with the suspense and thriller aspects of his early work and his token sleek and sophisticated directing style that is associated with his later works. Both Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike have great, yet twisted performances, with a surprisingly compelling performance from Carrie Coon as the protagonist, Nick Dunne’s, sister Margo Dunne. Both Coon and Affleck have on screen chemistry making a sibling relationship seem very real and as the movie goes on there are some truly emotional scenes between the two of them. 

Upon this rewatch, I remembered how many surprises and twists there were, but not all of the decisions seemed very plausible for a real world story. That could just be the pacifist in me, but the emotional and physical tension between the two main characters is a lot to handle. The film is truly doing something that creates a response from the audience, and it was quite enjoyable seeing the reactions from my roommates. There were some elements in the third act that I remembered from my first watch that did not sit well with me, especially after I thought I understood the character of Nick Dunne, and thought I knew how he would act in any given situation. However, with every David Fincher movie, you are meant to be on the edge of your seat as the story unfolds and that effect definitely worked for me not only once, but on the rewatch too. You come to realize that you don't know who you're rooting for by the end of the movie, and that's not usually the type of movie that I like a lot of the time, but I can't deny it's compelling. What was really interesting to look at on this watch was the character of Amy Dunne, played by Rosamund pike. She plays such an interesting character that we don't see a majority of the time. At the beginning of the movie, we think that Nick Dunne is the one and only protagonist, and by the end of the movie he still is, but he isn't the only one. On top of this, at the beginning of the story, we think Amy has gone missing because someone took her, but the way it actually happens tells us that it was actually Amy setting the plot into motion all along. This made me think a lot about our examination of films like 'Breathless', where women are seen more as plot devises rather than human beings that take control of the plot and push it forward themselves, as we can see with Patricia played by Jean Seberg. Amy makes the jump where she won't be a stand in for somebody else, but will rather be the person that she wants to be. Midway through the film, there is a 'cool girl' monologue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o4heKCLeTs) that sums up the idea very well, where she explains why she's fed up being a side character and transitions her way into the drivers seat. It just so happens, she's in the drivers seat in this scene and taking the role of the narrator which previously only went to Nick. It reminds me a lot of the same type of narrative structure change that Fincher makes in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. I made another blog post about that movie and how it has five acts, but in this scenario the roll of the protagonist switches halfway through the movie. So, it still follows three acts, but bends the rules of narrative structure in a new way.

By the end of the film, I don't really know who to route for. I see the humanity within the two characters, along with the lack of humanity as well. What's special about the film to me, is that we don't often get female characters like Amy, so it's definitely refreshing even though I don't know if I completely like her character. The two protagonists both have their morale issues, and I think that's the point. Fincher's directorial style of creating suspense and using chilling, dreary visuals are represented in this movie at probably the highest regard. This makes it at least the most visually suspenseful movie that he has worked on, even though I do not think it is the most compelling screenplay that he has worked with. I think overall, it is an important movie that will probably be looked back at for its reimagined tropes and narrative styles. The rewatch was definitely needed, and my roommates really liked it too.