Storyline
On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne reports
that his wife, Amy, has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and
a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to
crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone
asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
Review
Gone
Girl marks Fincher's tenth feature film and his most mature work since
Fight Club. Centering on Nick Dunne, a husband desperately trying to
find his wife all while having police and media accuse him of murder.
The story sounds straight out of the Scott Peterson case and the film
looks unlike any film I've seen in recent years. Lead by an all star
cast featuring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick
Harris, Gone Girl rises above the pack with smart storytelling,
phenomenal pacing and perfect performances. What Gone Girl does so
brilliantly is taps into the audience's psyche regarding marriage and
the ideology behind a sanctioned union that is corrupt. It is really
heavy stuff when the story really gets to the meat and bones of it all.
With plenty of twists and turns, Gone Girl keeps you, not only second
guessing the whole idea of marriage, but the intentions of every
character in the film. It is truly one of the most twisted films adapted
from an even sicker and twisted book that's out there right now.
Gillian Flynn does wonders with her adaption from her own novel. The
dialog is crisp, the characters are multi-layered, it truly is a pitch
perfect script that doesn't have one false moment in it. Ben Affleck and
Rosamund Pike are EXCELLENT in this film. This is a different Affleck, a
very human and realized Affleck. Nick Dunne is a wonderful role for him
and captivates just how good he can be with a terrific director. Harris
and Perry give well rounded performances as well but are nothing
compared to Affleck and Pike. David Fincher and his long time
collaborator and cinematographer, Jeff Cronenweth create a dreary,
horrific tone for Gone Girl that makes every twist and turn that much
more gut wrenching. Every shot is meticulously planned, showing each
shot as if it were a still frame that spoke a thousand words. It is
truly gorgeous filmmaking. And now for the score...Trent Reznor and
Atticus Finch deliver a perfect score, besting their Social Network and
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo score. If Reznor won for Social Network, I
fully expect not only a nomination but a win for this film. Overall,
this is a mesmerizing film that demands multiple viewings to truly get
the full experience. It is impeccably made, beautifully acted and an all
around near perfect film.
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Synopsis
Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) is stroking the hair of his wife Amy (Rosamund
Pike), saying through a voiceover that he'd like to crack her skull and
pick apart her brain to answer that eternal question married couples
have: What are you thinking?
July 5, 2012
Nick takes out
the garbage early in the morning, and looks around at the quiet
neighbourhood. He then goes to a bar he co-owns with his sister Margo
(Carrie Coon). He brings her a Mastermind board game that she throws in
with a pile of others. He asks for a drink, and she pours one for each
of them. It's the morning of Nick and Amy's 5th wedding anniversary, and
he expects another scavenger hunt. Nick seems distressed, not wanting
to be there at all.
January 8, 2005
Nick and Amy first
meet at a party in New York. He writes for a men's magazine and she
writes personality quizzes for another. She makes a comment on the cleft
of his chin making him look untrustworthy. He puts two fingers over the
cleft so he'll appear more trusting. They take a walk and pass through a
bakery that is getting a sugar delivery. Sugar is floating around
everywhere as Nick and Amy walk through it. Nick tells Amy he has to
kiss her now. He wipes some sugar off her lips and kisses her. They are
later seen in bed with her lying on her back in her underwear and him
performing oral sex on her.
Present Day.
Nick gets a call
from a neighbor, telling him that his cat is outside. He returns home
and calls for Amy. No answer. He goes into the living room and sees a
table flipped over and the glass top is shattered on the floor. Nick
screams Amy's name, startling a neighbor.
Nick calls the police.
Arriving at his home are Detective Rhonda Boney and Officer Jim Gilpin
(Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit). They inspect the place. Rhonda sees a
small splatter of blood in the kitchen above the range. In the living
room, they see a wall with pictures of "Amazing Amy", a book series
written by Amy's parents. Rhonda comments that she loves the books and
is surprised to learn that Nick is married to Amazing Amy herself.
February 24, 2007
Nick
and Amy go to a party held by her parents Rand and Marybeth (David
Clennon and Lisa Banes). It is to celebrate the latest Amazing Amy book,
where Amy gets married. As Nick and Amy discuss the exhibitions at the
party, it becomes clear that the parents' fictional Amazing Amy
character is a dramatically "improved" version of their real daughter
that is sold it to the public. (For example, they gave Amazing Amy a
dog, but refused one for their real daughter. They made Amazing Amy a
prodigy cellist when real the Amy dropped out.) Rand asks Amy to go sit
with some reporters so they can interview her. She does, and they ask
her mundane questions such as why she's not married yet (to which she
replies that Amazing Amy has always been one step ahead of her). Nick
comes in pretending to be a reporter. He asks her more personal
questions, leading up to a marriage proposal - opening his notebook to
reveal an engagement ring. He mentions that she has a world class
vagina.
Present Day
Nick is brought into the police
station for questioning about Amy's disappearance. Rhonda and Jim find
it odd that he seems rather indifferent and passive when answering
questions and the fact that he doesn't know if Amy has any close friends
or her blood type. He goes to call Amy's parents. Her mother asks to
speak to Rhonda. In the next room, Nick finds that his father Bill
(Leonard Kelly-Young) is in there after the police found him wandering
around town, having left his assisted living facility (he suffers from
Alzheimer's). Nick drives him back to the facility.
Nick stays at
Margo's house while the police inspect his home. A pregnant neighbor,
Noelle Hawthorne (Casey Wilson), who claims to be Amy's best friend,
comes by and asks about Amy. In the upstairs bedroom, Officer Gilpin
says that he found "it" in the drawer of "unmentionables." Detective
Boney pulls out an envelope, labelled "Clue One."
July 5, 2009
Nick
and Amy have been happily married for two years. On their anniversary,
another of Amy's scavenger hunts takes them to the library to have sex
in a quiet area. Amy gives Nick a gift. He opens the box to find a
package of very high quality bed sheets. She refers to a private joke
they had about how their sex was too good for ordinary sheets. He laughs
and pulls out a gift for her - the same sheets.
Present Day
When
questioned about this "clue", Nick says Amy always prepares a treasure
hunt for their anniversary. The first clue leads him and Rhonda to his
office, with another envelope on his desk labelled "Clue Two." Detective
Boney finds a pair of red panties in the office. Nick is surprised by
this discovery, as it doesn't seem directly related to the clue. The
second clue mentions a brown house, but tells the detective that he
doesn't understand it. Nick goes to his father's old home, which is
painted blue. He arrives, but sets off the alarm. He enters the code
twice to disarm the alarm, but it doesn't work. The phone rings, and it
is the alarm monitoring company investigating the alarm. As he starts to
explain that it's his father's house, the detectives arrive, so he
figures they must be following him. He finds the third clue there but
only has time to tuck it into his back pocket, hiding it from the
police. The detectives question him as to why he's there. He says he
comes by once a week to make sure the place doesn't burn down.
Amy's
parents fly in from New York as a press conference is held to spread
awareness of Amy's disappearance. Nick asks others for help, but he
appears emotionless. He is asked to pose next to a poster of Amy, and a
photographer captures the brief moment when a smile appears on his face.
Nick
and Amy's parents meet with Rhonda to determine some possible suspects.
Rand names an ex-boyfriend of Amy's, Desi Collings, who apparently
tried to commit suicide after Amy broke up with him. They also mention a
former classmate named Tommy O'Hara who was convicted of sexually
assaulting Amy.
People go to the volunteer center to help find
Amy. One person there is Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris), but he
leaves without saying anything. Nick tries to come off as friendly to
others, but Jim doesn't buy it. Even Marybeth thinks he is acting like a
"homecoming king." Nick is approached in a hallway by a woman who
extends her sympathy and offers to make him a chicken-Frito pie
casserole. She stands next to him and takes a selfie of the two of them,
telling him to say "chicken-Frito pie." He makes a fake smile as she
takes the photo and he immediately realizes this was a mistake and asks
her to delete the photo. She refuses, and he asks her not to share it
with anyone. She replies, "I'll share it with anyone I please" as she
walks away. The photo goes viral. Consequently, the media starts
analyzing Nick. TV personalities like Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle) paint
him as an unempathetic sociopath.
2010
Amy's diary
explains how both she and Nick lose their jobs. Amy talks about the
troubles they are having, then says, "But that's all background noise."
She says that none of it matters as long as they have each other. Then
Amy tells Nick that her parents are having financial problems and asked
her for her trust fund money, which is nearly a million dollars. Nick is
shocked that she would do that without talking to him first. Amy
explains that the money is really their money anyway, and then says,
"This is the part where you say, 'It's all background noise.'" He
appears to calm down, and repeats the phrase. Later on, Nick has started
losing interest in the marriage and has begun overspending on
electronics like video games and a new laptop. Amy thinks he is trying
to make her look like a cold, bitchy wife. To make matters worse, Nick
and Margo's mother Maureen (Cyd Strittmatter) has been diagnosed with
breast cancer, forcing Nick and Amy to move back to his hometown in
Missouri. Amy feels a bit upset because Nick didn't even discuss the
decision to move to Missouri with her, although she does support it. In
general, Amy feels left out. She says he is just using her for sex. Nick
is getting ready to go out with his old friends one evening when Amy
tries to persuade him to stay with her, but he refuses. Then she offers
to join him, but he also refuses, saying how she won't enjoy it. Then
Any makes the suggestion that they have a child. He starts to get angry,
asking why couldn't they have had this argument four hours prior,
instead of when he is about to leave. The argument escalates as they go
down the stairs, and at the bottom of the stairs Nick grabs Amy and
throws her down, and she strikes the bannister post and falls to the
floor. He immediately looks shameful.
Present Day
A few
nights after Amy disappears, Nick is at Margo's house. It's late and
Margo has gone to bed. Nick gets a text saying, "I'm outside." Nick
opens the back door. A young woman, Andie Fitzgerald (Emily
Ratajkowski), comes in and starts kissing Nick. He tells her to be quiet
while Margo is sleeping. He makes sure that Andie hasn't said anything
to anybody about her affair with Nick or that he has mentioned wanting
to divorce Amy. He asks her if she left some red panties in his office,
and she is doubtful, but not 100% sure. They continue kissing and have
sex.
Nick has Andie slip out the door early in the morning,
thinking Margo is still asleep. However, Margo appears in the kitchen
and angrily berates her brother for lying to her, knowing what would
happen if the cops or media were to find out about this.
At
night, there is a vigil for Amy. Nick stands alongside her parents, and
tries to seem more empathetic and anxious to find Amy, telling the crowd
how he truly loves his wife. Andie is clearly visible up front in the
crowd and mouths the word "asshole" in a way that only he can see.
Noelle walks by and calls out to Nick, asking him if he knew that Amy
was six weeks pregnant. The reporters chase Nick all the way to the
police car as they escort him away.
Margo presses Nick about the
pregnancy bombshell. He says he did not know she was pregnant, but that
he did want kids and Amy didn't. He shows her a letter from a fertility
clinic that they were going to, stating that they were going to dispose
of a semen sample they had left there, unless someone came to retrieve
it.
Rhonda and Jim meet Nick back in his home and explain that
the results of a light test showed that someone wiped up a large pool of
blood in the kitchen. Nick also doubts that Amy knew Noelle, until
Rhonda shows him photographs of the two of them together, along with
Noelle's kids. She even hands Nick a document of recent expensive
transactions from his credit card, mentioning items including golf clubs
and a Stratocaster guitar, though Nick says he never bought any of
those items. Additionally, Rhonda presses Nick about the fact that he
upped Amy's life insurance policy earlier that year to over a million
dollars. He barks back, "because she told me to!" Rhonda gets a call
confirming Amy's urine sample analysis indicate that she was indeed
pregnant.
Nick remembers the third clue in his pocket, and tries
to decipher it. Rhonda and Jim continue their investigation, checking
out the abandoned mall, now frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers.
They find a local dealer and show him a picture of Amy. He tells Rhonda
that she came by and tried to buy a gun from him. He had a clear memory
of the event; it was Valentine's Day and she had been wearing a pink
dress. They go back to Nick's father's home, wondering why Nick went
there in the first place so soon after Amy's disappearance. In the
furnace in the basement, they find Amy's diary hidden in the furnace,
burnt slightly. Nick, meanwhile, figures out that the third clue refers
to a wood shed outside Margo's home. He discovers a large pile of items
from the credit card purchases stored there, as well as a gift-wrapped
box in the middle of it all.
Amy's Version: July 5, 2012
We
go back to "the morning of", and we learn the truth - Amy is alive and
she staged everything to lead up to her disappearance. She is seen
driving away from Missouri with her arm bandaged up with a blood spot
evident on the inside of her elbow. Amy had used a variety of pens to
make recent diary entries appear as if they were written over the past 5
years, and periodically threw each one out the car window. It documents
a happy marriage deteriorating to the point where she buys a gun
because she is afraid that Nick may kill her. She even faked her
pregnancy by befriending pregnant Noelle and making her think that Nick
was hurting her. Amy drained her toilet and offered Noelle lemonade
until she had to use the bathroom. Amy then stole her urine and used it
to submit it for the pregnancy test.
On their fifth anniversary,
Amy told Nick to take a walk and really think about their marriage,
knowing full well he would go for a walk in his favorite isolated spot
along the beach and thus have no alibi. Meanwhile she set up a crime
scene to make Nick look guilty. Her plans included suicide so that her
body would be found to completely frame Nick. To make sure she's not
found out, she cuts her hair, dyes it, and makes herself look unkempt
and disheveled. She begins eating large amounts of junk food to gain
weight. She hides out at a small resort under the name Nancy, even
hitting herself in the face with a hammer to sell the idea that she is
hiding from an abusive boyfriend. She befriends a woman named Greta
(Lola Kirke). Amy tells her how she came across Nick leaving the bar
with Andie during a snowy night, wiping her lips before he kissed her
the same way he kissed Amy when they first met (this part is true). With
her plan working perfectly, she postpones her suicide for another
month.
Back to Nick
Nick brings the gift box inside and
opens it to find Punch and Judy dolls, with the Judy doll holding a baby
and missing a mallet. Together, he and Margo deduce that Amy has framed
Nick for her disappearance.
Nick goes to New York to find Tanner
Bolt (Tyler Perry), a lawyer specializing in tough, high-profile cases
who has been following Nick's story in the media. He agrees to help Nick
in his defense. He gives Nick the contact information of Tommy O'Hara
(Amy's second boyfriend, who was charged with sexual assault) so that
Nick can ask him questions.
Nick meets Tommy (Scoot McNairy) in a
bar. Tommy says he and Amy dated for a while, but he could see that she
was using him. He gave her some space, hoping she'd break off the
relationship. One day, she seduced him, and told him she wanted rough
sex. She staged a scene where she had marked her wrists and left
neckties tied to the bed to make it appear he had tied her up. She went
to the police, and claimed he had raped her. He pleaded guilty to a
reduced charge to avoid prison time. Now he is a registered sex offender
and has not been able to get a job. He warns Nick about how evil and
manipulative she is. Nick later visits Desi after finding his address
from a letter he wrote to Amy. After Nick asks Desi about his side of
the story regarding his attempted suicide, Desi closes the door on him
and walks back inside his house without confirming or denying the things
she told Nick about him.
At the resort, Amy plays mini-golf with
Greta and her friend Jeff (Boyd Holbrook). At one point, she jumps up
and drops her fanny pack full of money. Greta and Jeff notice. The next
day, as Amy is cleaning the room meticulous to prepare to leave, they
force their way into her room and start searching for the money. Amy
threatens to call the police. Greta says that she doesn't know what
she's up to, but has dyed hair and she doesn't think she's ever been
hit. Greta says, "You won't call the police." They find the money under
her dress, and take it. Now penniless, she calls the Missing Amy tip
line, and reports suspicious activity at Margo's wood shed. She then
places a call from a pay phone.
Tanner goes to Missouri to help
Nick and Margo clear up Nick's image. Nick tells Tanner what he thinks
has been going on with Amy, dropping clues that only he would really
know. For instance, the reason he knew that the "brown house" in the
treasure hunt clue was his dad's house was because they used to pretend
that his dad was a spy called Mr. Brown. Nick also admits to the affair,
which Tanner says he ought to tell the cops about so that it gives them
one less reason to think Nick had a motivation to kill Amy.
Nick
later books an interview on TV with Sharon Schieber (Sela Ward) to tell
his side of the story. Tanner coaches him to make him seem more
likeable by having Nick admit that he's been unfaithful and dishonest,
which would earn him some possible points in the media.
On the
day of the interview, Tanner keeps trying to get Nick to come off less
smug and more genuinely upset by pelting him with gummy bears in his
dressing room when Nick appears too smug or untrustworthy.
At the
same time, Desi meets Amy at a casino. She never mentions getting her
money stolen, but she continues to play up the abused wife angle. They
leave for Desi's lake house.
As Nick meets Sharon, a bombshell
hits the news: Andie has confessed to her affair with Nick at a press
conference, with Amy's parents. Desi and Amy see the news while Sharon
gets wind of it at the same time. Marybeth tells reporters that her and
Rand's love for Nick has ended then and there.
Desi and Amy watch
Nick's interview with Sharon, while Nick is watching with Margo. Nick
convincingly comes off as remorseful for the affair, but he insists that
he did not kill his wife. Sharon lets him speak directly into the
camera to say something to Amy. He says he loves her and mentions the
woodshed (figuratively, apparently as a secret message to Amy) before
putting two fingers on his chin, knowing Amy would recognize that. Margo
checks the Internet and sees that Nick is trending positive with the
public.
Things take an unfortunate turn when Rhonda and other
officers show up at Margo's home with a search warrant due to the call
about the woodshed. They find all the merchandise from the credit card
bill. Both Nick and Margo are taken into custody. Rhonda reads to Nick
the pages of Amy's diary, which ends with "This man may truly kill me."
Jim brings in the missing Judy mallet from the puppets. It has been
burned in their fireplace, but traces of Amy's blood are found on it.
Rhonda now has a murder weapon, and arrests Nick. He protests, but
Tanner shuts him up.
At Desi's home, Amy learns that Desi has
security cameras installed all over the property. She is virtually a
prisoner in his home. While he's out at work, she stages what looks like
a brutal rape. She soaks her nightgown in red wine, binds her hands and
feet, then crawls to the camera, crying, making it look like she's just
been raped.
Nick and Margo are released on bond. The media
continues to hound them on the way out, now that everyone is convinced
Nick is a cold monster. Nick quietly whispers to himself, "Come home,
Amy. I dare you."
Amy waits for Desi to come home. She gets a
wine bottle and puts it in herself to create injuries. When Desi gets
home, Amy seduces him and agrees to run off with him to Greece once the
trial is over. They go into the bedroom. She starts taking his clothes
off, tearing his shirt open, and they start having sex. Amy demands it
to be harder. Desi is caught off guard, once he gives over to the
moment, lifting his head to the ceiling, Amy grabs a box cutter she
concealed beneath the pillows and slashes his throat. She is drenched in
his blood as he dies underneath her. She does look upset about what
she's just done.
Nearly a month after Amy's disappearance, Nick
looks out his window and sees Amy drive up, still covered in blood. The
reporters and neighbours are shocked and begin clamoring around Nick and
Amy as she walks up to him. He whispers to her, "You fucking bitch",
before she collapses in his arms.
At the hospital, Amy is
interviewed by a roomful of police and weaves a story about how Desi
kidnapped and raped her before she made her heroic escape. Rhonda asks
her questions about the items in Margo's woodshed, but Amy deflects the
question and returns to her rape story, while also being heavily
medicated on painkillers. The reporters follow her and Nick home, happy
that she's alive and that Nick is now vindicated. However, Nick knows
something is wrong, and asks her what really happened. Amy forces Nick
to disrobe to prove he's not wearing a wire. She goes to the shower to
wash off the copious amounts of Desi's blood still covering her. In the
shower with Nick, she all but confesses that she framed Desi and
murdered him in order to return to Nick as he had requested (and
presumably also to make her return seem heroic). Nick sleeps in a
separate room and locks the door behind him.
Nick meets with
Tanner, Margo, and Rhonda (who now trusts Nick) about this revelation,
though without sufficient evidence and with everyone on Amy's side, they
cannot prove that she murdered Desi.
Nick and Amy make their
first public appearance together at the volunteer center, posing as a
happily reunited couple. They are even set to have an interview with
Ellen Abbott in their home. As they are getting ready, Amy gives Nick a
gift, which is a pregnancy test. It's positive. Nick first says it can't
be his, and he'll demand a blood test. Then he realizes that she has
retrieved his semen sample, and is using this as a ploy to keep him with
her. The tension escalates and he grabs her and slams her head against
the wall, calling her a cunt. She tells him she's the same cunt he fell
in love with. And she's the only cunt that ever made him feel like a
man. Reluctantly, Nick joins Amy hand-in-hand for the interview. During
the interview, Amy prods Nick and he says they're going to be parents,
when Ellen appears overjoyed and hugs Amy. Margo later finds out about
the pregnancy and cries for her brother, and is distraught that he plans
to stay with her for the sake of the child for the next 18 years.
The
film concludes with a similar shot as the opening, Nick stroking Amy's
hair again, wondering to himself just what she's thinking.
