Gone Girl

I've just finished watching the only David Fincher film I had left to watch; Gone Girl (for anyone who doesn't want any of the film to be spoiled for them, I warn you that there are spoilers below!). I absolutely loved this film. I think it's brilliant at manipulating it's audience into believing what the character, Amy, wants you to believe.

At first it seems like a standard domestic abuse based storyline of a great marriage turning tragic bit by bit - as the family cat watches the marriage crumble throughout. But I personally didn't see the twist coming because of how drawn in I became by the story that Amy tells us in her narrations and flashbacks. I love the constant shocking moments, it felt like there was twist after twist throughout. We see a lot of changes in the characters as the story goes on, being made to have sympathy for Amy and hatred for Nick. But it gets completely turned on it's head the more that secrets and plans are revealed.

Of course in Fincher's usual style the film ends in a very disturbingly downbeat manner. As if I wasn't disturbed enough by some of the film's shocking scenes, it ends with Nick being trapped in a loveless marriage with a pregnant psychopath. Yet even if he had a way out, he admits that he doesn't want one. He seems to be addicted to Amy's manipulations and games.

I found it very effective when Fincher used the 'bookend' technique, similar to Fight Club, starting the opening of the film with a very similar sequence to the closing one. The shot being a close-up of Amy's head resting on Nick as he strokes her hair, with a voice over of him saying "When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brains, trying to get answers. The primal questions of any marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other?". When I first listened to those words I felt like they made Nick sound quite villainess, especially with the addition of Amy's face looking quite sad and innocent. But when it's repeated in the closing sequence, I feel like I can hear pain in his voice when he repeats those questions, and fear when he adds "What will we do?". The evil smile Amy gives in that final moment left me feeling very disturbed, which I find very strong as it was obviously intentional by Fincher.

Of course along with a downbeat ending I found almost all of Fincher's recognisable trademarks in Gone Girl...

• Fluid tracking camera shots
• Low-key lighting with a green or blue tinted colour temperature - I found that most scenes in Gone Girl with a bad, unsettling tone were tinted in blue, while the more upbeat scenes were tinted in green/yellow
• Wide shots
• Low angles
• Back stories filled with flashbacks
• Music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• People with poor social skills and few friends
• Static and highly controlled camera movements
• A single handheld shot (when Nick is told that Amy is pregnant and gets escorted away from the crowd and into a police car)
• Production design was stark and modern for the most part, but decaying when Amy was on the run and in hiding
• Shot looking inside a character's fridge - now this one wasn't actually featured, however we see Nick's sister, Margo, standing next to the fridge, hear the sound of a fridge being opened and slammed shut out of shot, and then her standing back in the same place with drink. It felt to me as if we were supposed to have missed it

I think Gone Girl is a really emotional and affective film. With so many trademarks of Fincher's being involved I think it's easily recognisable as one of his films. It's great inspiration for my work.