Gone Girl. Nick Dunne (Ben Afflect) leaves his house and heads to a bar that he co-manages with his sister, Margo Dunne (Carrie Coon). The bar is owned by his wife, Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike). It is the day of his 5th wedding anniversary. It doesn't take long to figure out that his marriage is on the rocks. Nick and Margo quickly start blasting Amy.
Nick heads back home. When he enters his home, he looks to the right. A coffee table is smashed in the living room. This doesn't look right. He calls out for his wife. There is no answer. He quickly calls for the police. Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and Officer Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) show up. Based on the evidence in the house, they declare Amy a missing person.
Via flashbacks we learn that Amy and Nick had a great three year run. Then the aftermath of the Great Recession caught up with them and their marriage started a downhill trend. Nick lost his job. Amy's parents were very wealthy (part of the one percent), but they were in heavy debt and Amy's million dollar trust fund needed to get drained to cover that debt. The last straw to there wonderful marriage was when Nick's mother came down with cancer. They moved back to his small hometown, a situation that Amy just couldn't handle.
The answer to what happened to Amy is answered by the middle of the movie, but that doesn't take away from the thrill of this movie. Nick's character is complex. He comes across as always being under control, but we start getting a different feel for him as the movie progresses. He's prone to bursts of anger. He has a thing for a hot young twenty one year old. Amy, meanwhile, has subtle psychological issues, driven by her mother. Her mother wrote a series of books called Amazing Amy that tracked Amy's life. The problem was that Amazing Amy was way more successful than the real Amy was.
This movie has all the makings for a best picture nomination. Great acting. A story line that keeps you engaged. And a nice toss to how society manipulates these situations.
My one problem: There is a scene in the movie where Nick is in his house, getting ready for an interview. Then there is another scene where he is at his sister's house. Then we go back to where he is back in his house, moments before his interview. I'm assuming that the scene at his sister's house is a flashfoward. My problem is that this is the only time this technique is used and I think it causes a touch of confusion. We're used to the flashbacks, but this one flashfoward seems out of place.
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