GONE GIRL - Oscar Movie Review Special
Psychotic, murderous female characters are nothing new in the cinematic world. Glenn Close as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction comes to mind for one, and Single White Female with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Hendra Carlson is another. But Rosamund Pike, up for a Best Actress Oscar, is one of the most chilling I can recall. She plays Amy Dunne, a character you start out just adoring, and then when you find out who she really is, you want her dead because you hate her with every fiber of your being. Amy Dunne is a deeply disturbed sociopath and plotting psychotic who hopes, through her careful planning, ending in her eventual "suicide", to frame her husband Nick Dunne, played by Ben Affleck, for murder. Pike’s acting prowess is a marvel in Gone Girl. Her role is reminiscent of Jean Tierny who played obsessively jealous socialite Ellen Berent in the 1945 film noir classic, Leave Her to Heaven. Berent cannot stand for her husband to have any fealty for anyone else but her. Her psychotic jealousy is so pronounced that she lets her crippled brother-in-law drown, and throws herself down a flight of stairs to end her pregnancy because she knows her husband will love the baby. Her last act on Earth is to take her own life and to stage the suicide so as to implicate her own sister for murder, and in the process sends her husband to prison. Likewise, Amy Dunne in Gone Girl will stop at nothing, not even murder, to destroy the lives of others.
I remember seeing all the ads for Gone Girl months ago when it first was released. I thought it looked intriguing, and I like Ben Affleck well enough. But now, after seeing it, I am somewhat disappointed and unsatisfied. I like good noir thrillers. But, this one left me wanting more, and not in a good way. The acting in this film was right on the money. My favorite characterizations in GG include Kim Dickens as Rhonda Boney, lead police detective; Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne, Nick’s rock and twin sister; Tyler Perry as Nick’s Johnny Cochran-esque attorney, Tanner Bolt; Missi Pyle, a cable news reporter who would rather broadcast gossip than actual fact; and Sela Ward, as national news anchor Sharon Shieber.
Gone Girl is a tad disturbing, with its bloody graphic violence, with sex sometimes included in the violence. It is adapted by author Gillian Flynn from her novel of the same name (this is a case of the book being much better than the movie), and centers around Affleck’s character, former New York writer Nick Dunne, who is accused of his wife’s disappearance and possible murder on their fifth wedding anniversary. Flynn takes you on an emotional roller-coaster ride with her story, and just when you have it all figured out, the roller-coaster takes you in a different direction. (For instance, at first you are with Nick Dunne, then you hate him, then you really hate him, then you feel sorry for him, then you kinda like him again, and then you just think he’s an idiot!) I suppose you can consider that simply good storytelling. At the end of the ride, though, you could be left shaking your head, wondering if it was really worth the price of the ticket. Anyhow, that’s the way I see it.