“Gone Girl”

If you happen to know a couple who are planning to get married and they’ve expressed some concerns about going through pre-marital counseling as recommended by the Church, then just have them go see “Gone Girl.” I guarantee that if they do so, they’ll be on the phone with Father first thing the next morning to set up their sessions.

“Gone Girl” is the tenth feature film from director David Fincher, the man who brought us the likes of “Seven,” “Fight Club,” “The Social Network,” and “Zodiac.” Whether you like those films or not, you’ve got to admit that’s a pretty solid resume. And if those uber-stylish movies weren’t enough to earn Fincher the title of auteur, this one certainly clinches the deal. “Gone Girl” is as Fincher-y as a movie can possibly get.

It’s darkly lit with a limited pallette. Characters are often half hidden in the shadows. There are editing flourishes that always remind you the director cut his teeth on music videos. The subject matter is somber and serious, but not above wallowing in some of the trashier elements of pulp fiction (there’s graphic sex and violence, but not as much as in some of Fincher’s other works). But most of all, the protagonists are recognizable all-American archetypes, yet also a bit obsessive and/or deviant, so you’re never 100 percent sure you should be on their side.

In the case of “Gone Girl,” the possible choice of protagonists are Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and/or his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike). Now, if that sounds like I’m being sort of wishy-washy on exactly who the “hero” of the film is, it’s because there may not actually be one. But we’ll get to that.

The movie opens on the day of the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary as Nick returns home to find the living room in shambles and Amy missing. He immediately summons the police, who determine that foul play was involved. Because Amy is semi-famous, having served as the model for the title character in a wildly popular line of children’s books published by her parents, her disappearance swiftly becomes a cause célèbre with the national news channels. As a result, an uncomfortable Nick finds himself the unwilling star in the ensuing media circus.

He also becomes the prime suspect in Amy’s disappearance and likely murder. As flashbacks reveal, the couple’s marriage had been in trouble for some time. Both Nick and Amy lost their jobs due to the recession, and most of Amy’s trust fund was turned over to her parents to help with their financial woes. On top of the Dunne’s money problems, Nick had forced a reluctant Amy to move from her beloved New York City to suburban Missouri in order to attend to Nick’s dying mother. Once in Missouri, Nick had become distant, lazy, and possibly abusive.

And that’s about as far into the plot as I’m willing to go, because to say too much more would spoil things for those who have never read Gillian Flynn’s wildly popular novel upon which “Gone Girl” is based. What starts out as a routine setup for any old Lifetime movie of the week quickly turns into a roller coaster of a mystery once the plot twists start coming. And there are a lot of them, some predictable, but enough unexpected to keep viewers guessing up until the very end about just who is really guilty, and of what.

If it were nothing more than a mystery movie, “Gone Girl” would be an entertaining enough outing, though perhaps a confusing one in trying to determine what motivates certain characters. But as my earlier mentioning of pre-marriage counseling indicates, Fincher and Flynn, who also adapted her book to the screen, have a lot more on their mind with “Gone Girl” than just a simple whodunnit.

From the very first words we hear from Nick, a monologue spoken over the opening credits, it becomes apparent that one of the underlying themes of “Gone Girl” is the toxicity which unrealistic expectations can bring to a marriage. “When I think of my wife, I always think of the back of her head.” Nick opines, “I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers. The primal questions of a marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?” The problem is, Nick is asking these questions five years after he and Amy have already taken their wedding vows, not before.

As much consternation as they can cause couples seeking marriage, those pre-marriage counseling quizzes provided by the Church force folks to consider the realities of life that accompany matrimony. Couples are asked to agree or disagree with simple statements such as “We are in agreement about the husband and wife roles each of us expects of the other in our marriage relationship,” “We are in agreement about how we will make financial decisions between us,” “My future spouse and I can talk about our sexual fears, hopes and preferences,” and “We disagree with each other over some teachings of the church.”

Interestingly, a 1995 study conducted by Purdue University showed that such quizzes were 80 percent accurate at predicting which couples would remain happily married by their five-year anniversary. Still, a lot of couples these days simply don’t ask these type of questions before tying the knot, so it causes them problems later on.

It’s not quite that simple in “Gone Girl,” of course. This being a Fincher movie, the characters aren’t just lackadaisical in their marriage prep, they’re willful in their disregard of such concerns. Remember how we mentioned that Fincher’s characters are often on the over-obsessive and/or deviant side. Well, over the course of the film, we learn that Nick and Amy actually pledged to live out their marriage in denial of the common problems faced by ordinary people and created false personas to that end. Once real problems like job loss and lack of money kicked in, though, Nick began to cave, setting off the twists and turns which transpire in the movie.

Because the two leads are such narcissistic characters, there are no real heroes to cheer for per se, though the various plot twists do pull your sympathies towards one or the other at various times. Kim Dickens’ detective and Carrie Coon’s turn as Nick’s twin sister are the closest the movie gets to “good” characters. Despite that, the mystery elements of the film are more than enough to keep you interested in the ultimate fate of the Dunnes and the people drawn into their dilemma.

With some strong performances, Fincher’s distinct direction, and a really smart script that’s part mystery and part character study, expect to see “Gone Girl” get some attention come awards season. Whether it’s Fincher’s best movie to date is arguable, but it’s up there near the top.

In a world he didn’t create, in a time he didn’t choose, one man looks for signs of God in the world by… watching movies. When he’s not reviewing new releases for Aleteia,David Ivesspends his time exploring the intersection of low-budget/cult cinema and Catholicism atThe B-Movie Catechism.