ORWAV’s Top 20 of 2014: 10. Gone Girl

“What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?”

From the opening line, Gone Girl opens its stall to become a fascinating vivisection of marriage, a meticulous printscreen of our ambiguous society, and an excitingly perverse and deconstructed thriller. Fincher’s chilling perfectionism transforms a bestseller literary phenomenon into a powerful and melancholic statement on our era that finds itself indulging wholly in the idea of fakery and façades. Full of satire and social critique, Gone Girl achieves all of its opening aims and more, anointing it as a cinematic triumph of 2014 – or in fact any year.

Courtesy of: 20th Century Fox

To summarise Gone Girl within a brief spoiler-free synopsis borders on the impossible. In fact, to come in from the cold is easily the optimum way to enjoy this adaptation. With the trailers and advertising presenting a Battle of the Sexes-cum-crime thriller, the misdirection, although not manufactured by Fincher’s hands, begins before one can even enter the cinema.

To begin, Gone Girl is a startling critique of the construct of marriage led by the sensational performances of Rosamund Pike as “Amazing” Amy Dunne and Affleck as the apathetic husband, Nick. The power-play between the two risks falling into either the depths of pantomime or professional absenteeism, but neither actors indulge in these faults; their performances throughout evolve, excite and elucidate.

Courtesy of: 20th Century Fox

Affleck, who may have been potentially hindered by his muscular form, manages to convey everything through the minutiae of his anatomy – raised eyebrows, painful smiles, finger flicks – to install a mysterious, untrustworthy and human lead at the centre of this narrative. Affleck’s personal renaissance reaches its summit here with a performance far beyond his perceived capabilities, creating archetypes and entrapping audience members into Fincher’s overarching misdirection.

On the other side of the coin, Pike outrageously excels. Delivering the performance of her career, her infusion of spiked perfection ensnares, terrifies and delights. Her voice, ever-present, purrs the story’s narration, akin to an amalgamation of Grace Kelly and Lauren Bacall’s Hollywood charms. Pike achieves an immersive and almost impossible depth to Amy, as she swirls in amongst several archetypes to reveal shades of herself yet with no one revelation. Fincher sets his satire upon the archetypal female role from which Pike returns a performance of grand perfection. Oscar talk is alive and well for Pike’s performance, and she deserves every drop of it.

The psychological to-and-fro between the spouses blurs the line to ensure we, the audience, can never verify whose allegiance we belong to. Reality and fiction are never one and the same. The dual perspective buttresses Fincher’s central satire surrounding the role of the masks we wear. Yet to simply connect the dots between marriage and masks does Gone Girl a disservice.

Courtesy of: 20th Century Fox

Gone Girl at its foundations is a commentary/satire/snapshot of 21^st century life. Fincher’s representation of suburban America almost appears as a hyperrealistic world, separate to our own. The craft in Fincher’s direction, and Gillian Flynn’s superb adaptation of her own novel, is to remain forever ambiguous yet revealing all. Their commentary is not about the wild and apathetic behaviours of Nick and Amy, or solely upon the construct of marriage. The film establishes itself to reveal the ambiguity of all our lives, and the social façades we present both publicly and privately. On the surface, Nick and Amy are just regular citizens like you and I. Even when we delve into the cold murky waters, neither one has a clear identity; the masks remain forever in place. We never meet the real Nick or Amy. For example, as Affleck sits down for his main television interview, he bemoans to Go and Bolt about his ‘difficult wife’, yet within minutes speaks to the nation about her sensational smile and his yearning for her return. In the beat of a heart and a flick of the eye, the masks have been switched and the new role begins. What is he really thinking? Who is the real Nick? Who is the real Go? We never know, and that’s Fincher/Flynn’s masterstroke.

Pike and Affleck receive bountiful support from a uniformly excellent supporting cast. Kim Dickens as the no-nonsense Det. Rhonda Boney, and Carrie Coon as the conflicted yet ever-supportive Go, Nick’s twin sister, ensure the pace and quality of the film never drops. However of all the actors, the strongest ace in this pack is Tyler Perry. As the cool, funny and deadpan hotshot attorney, Tanner Bolt, Perry adds the necessary strain of the outsider looking in. His energy never dilutes the drama even when flicking jellybeans at his client when his answers are incorrect, just minutes before his grandstand television interview. When a film makes Tyler Perry bring his A-game it, almost by default, becomes exemplary.

Courtesy of: 20th Century Fox

Beautifully shot by Jeff Cronenweth, and expertly edited by Kirk Baxter, Gone Girl is surrounded by quality. Best of all, it’s the third soundtrack provided by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Fincher that astounds. Pairing traditional orchestral elements to soothing sounds with staccato beats, the duo create a soundscape almost devoid of sound, and rather populated with dread. In interviews about the process, Reznor revealed that the inspiration for the music came from when he visited Fincher at his chiropractor’s. Whilst in the waiting room, he picked up on the background soundtrack, which he remarked was “inauthentically trying to make him feel alright.” How fitting.

With Gone Girl, David Fincher marks the end of his social pseudo-trilogy on society in the 21^st century following The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The former explored the relationship between life, love and ambition in our digital age, with the latter tapping into the unsettling lies-upon-lies coursing through individuals’ veins, with a continuing ‘unknowing’ about all involved. Within Gone Girl, Fincher merges the films’ key themes to produce an unerring snapshot of today’s society: a world protected and perturbed by the roles we see and perform every day. The defining message is that we only ever see what we are allowed to see, and we will never receive that complete verification as to who our nearest and dearest truly are, that we secretly all yearn for. Distrust, ambiguity and discontent will remain rabid and widespread so long as this cycle continues.

“What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?”

One Room With A View’s Top 20 of 2014 (so far):

20 = X-Men: Days of Future Past
20 = Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
19. The LEGO Movie
18. Frank
17. 22 Jump Street
16. The Wind Rises
15. Mr Turner
14. Calvary
13. Starred Up
12 = The Raid 2
12 = Nightcrawler
11. Dallas Buyers Club
10. GONE GIRL

Keep your eyes peeled as we countdown to our Number One Film for 2014.