 |
| Rosamund Pike is a revelation in Gone Girl. |
«««1/2 Gone
Girl. Written by Gillian Flynn, based on her novel. Directed by David Fincher. At area theaters.
The nation is in the
midst of an apparently endless debate over the right of gays and lesbians to marry.
The conservative argument against gay marriage is it somehow "ruins"
the institution. But given its manifest problems, given that its
legal advantages could readily be enshrined in civil unions, why would anyone
fight for the right get married at all? The rest of America already seems to be going the other direction: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the first
time in history, more than 50% of American adults are now single. Given the demographic
trends, our LGBT brothers and sisters seem to be rushing onto a sinking ship.
David Fincher's Gone
Girl is ostensibly just a Hitchcock-style thriller about a man suspected of
killing his wife, but its point isn't crime and punishment. Its real subject is
the central conundrum of marriage—that the imperfect, constantly evolving
natures of individual human beings can or should be bound in an institution
that involves the concept of "forever". It should come as no surprise
that the script by Gillian Flynn (based on her 2012 novel) has more on its mind
than twists and thrills. Even Hitchcock's films were rarely just about what
they were about.
Nick (Ben Affleck) is a magazine writer of
less-than-certain income. This is dangerous territory when you're married to Amy
(Rosamund Pike), a beautiful woman from a privileged background and very high
standards for the kind of man worthy of her lifetime loyalty. Their romance was
so storybook at first that neither could believe it ("We're so cute I want
to punch us in the face," she says). Nick's unemployment soon leads to
money problems, and the strains that can lead to infidelity. But his problems
really start when, one ordinary afternoon, Amy disappears from their home. There's
sympathy for him at first. As the façade
of their marriage begins to crack, public suspicion inevitably shifts to Nick,
who likewise begins to suspect he never really knew his dearly beloved at all.
Gone Girl is a
smart thriller with enough kinks in its plot to make nearly two-and-a
half-hours go by very quickly. In the tradition of the genre's best, it not
only keeps us all guessing, but uses that uncertainty to force audiences to see
the characters in constantly new ways.
Director Fincher (Seven,
Fight Club, The Social Network) is a master craftsman who knows how to propel a
story, and knows how to get good performances from his leads. Even as his
character seems more and more like a shit-heel, Affleck retains that movie-star
superpower that keeps him likeable. Rosamund Pike—a British actress who has
flitted on the edges of stardom for well on a decade—is nothing less than a
revelation. Catnip to men, burning with an intelligence she has no good use
for, this character is the most compelling femme
fatale since Linda Fiorentino twisted all those men around her little
finger in The Last Seduction (1994).
Ultimately, there may be one or two twists too many in
Flynn's script to make sense. By the time this becomes obvious, though, Gone Girl has really become about
something more important than solving a mystery.
©
2014 Nicholas Nicastro
No comments:
Post a Comment