Gone Girl: An exploration into modern relationships. Or, rather, relationships as they seem ever to be headed in our late-capitalist, postmodern world.
In other words, what part is real and what part are they just making up as they go along?
Really. There are any number of historical and cultural contexts in which this sort of thing would be all but inconceivable. Worlds [communities] that revolve around one or another God or one or another set of social mores that cohere folks into a frame of mind that basically revolves around “a place for everyone, and everyone in his or her place”.
But it doesn’t much work that way anymore, does it? And not just with respect to sexuality or love. Nothing much is beyond the grasp of the new nihilism. Especially in a world where, increasingly, the Holy Trinity is now pop culture, mindless consumption and the worship of celebrity. Indeed, is there anything that anyone does nowadays that has not already been configured into one or another reality TV program?
In fact, in this film, once Nick and Amy become “celebrities” [fixtures on the Nancy Grace.com.ilk circuit] reality and TV reality become a virtual blur. At times, reality itself becomes the slipperiest of slopes. And Amy is to, say the least, calculating. So, from Nick’s end, everything must become completely rehearsed. In the end, however, he succumbs to the illusion itself. Or seems to.
And then there is that age old gap between what we think others are thinking and what they think we are thinking. And then how, again, especially in this day and age, we can never really be sure. And then there’s Amy’s diary.
Of course this is not only applicable to husbands and their wives. It’s also applicable to parents and their children. In fact, let’s face it, it’s more or less applicable to everyone.
IMDb
[b]When it comes to casting roles, David Fincher typically goes on the internet to look through pictures of actors to help him find the right type of actor for a role. When casting the role of Nick Dunne, Fincher spotted photos of Ben Affleck and noticed a particular smile Affleck had on dozens of pictures. According to Fincher, it captured a particular emotion in a scene of Nick Dunne smiling that showed the essence of the character. Soon after, Fincher cast Ben Affleck in the role.
Originally Nick was supposed to wear a Yankees cap in one scene. But Affleck, a die-hard Red Sox fan, refused to wear it. Ultimately he and Fincher compromised and in that scene he wears a Mets cap.
In order to figure out his character, Ben Affleck researched and studied several men who were accused and convicted of killing their wives. He paid particular attention to Scott Peterson.
Rosamund Pike claimed that per David Fincher’s request, she and Neil Patrick Harris spent two hours on set, completely alone, rehearsing their sex scene.
Rosamund Pike used a Dora the Explorer doll to practice her sex scene with Neil Patrick Harris. [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Girl_(film
trailer: youtu.be/Ym3LB0lOJ0o
GONE GIRL [2014]
Directed by David Fincher
[b]Nick [voiceover]: When I think of my wife, I always think of the back of her head. 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?
…
Amy: So, you write for a men’s magazine. God, does that make you an expert on being a man?
Nick: No.
Amy: It’s what to wear, what to drink. How to bullshit.
Nick: Never with you.
Amy: Ha, ha.
Nick: No, I mean it.[/b]
And, at the time, he did.
[b]Margo: So, is Amy gonna do one of those anniversary treasure hunts?
Nick: You mean the forced march designed to prove what an oblivious and uncaring asshole her husband is?
Margo: Wow.
Nick: Life. I don’t remember the point.
…
Margo [discussing what kind of wood item Nick is going to give to Amy for their 5th wedding anniversary]: So what are you going to give her?
Nick: I don’t know, there’s nothing good for wood.
Margo: I know what you can do. You go home and fuck her brains out. Then you take your penis and smack her in the face with it, and you say, “There’s some wood, bitch!”
…
Det. Boney: We’re gonna hold a press conference tomorrow.
Nick: You’re having a press conference?
Det. Boney: We wanna get the word out, right?
Nick: Yeah, it’s just all of a sudden, I feel like I’m on a Law and Order episode.
…
Amy [in her diary]: Everyone told us and told us and told us…Marriage is hard work. And compromise and more work, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter.”
…
Margo: Well, did they ask personal stuff about Amy?
Nick: You know, they asked why didn’t she have any friends?
Margo: What did you say?
Nick: I said she was complicated.
Margo: Nick! Everyone knows “complicated” is code for “bitch.”
…
Det. Boney [holding up an envelope that reads Clue One]: Well, we have our first clue.
…
Amy [in her diary]: Want to test your marriage for weak spots? Add one recession… Subtract two jobs. It’s surprisingly effective.[/b]
There’s always that part, right?
[b]Nick: Do you really want to be the couple that has a baby to save their marriage?
Amy: “Save”?
…
Margo [to Nick after finding out about Andie]: Boo hoo, I got laid off. Guess I’ll fuck a teenager.[/b]
Amy is diabolical. How diabolical? The heart and the soul of it:
[b]Amy [voiceover]: I’m so much happier now that I’m dead. Technically missing. Soon to be presumed dead. Gone. And my lazy lying shitting oblivious husband will go to prison for my murder. Nick Dunne took my pride and my dignity and my hope and my money. He took and took from me until I no longer existed. That’s murder. Let the punishment fit the crime. To fake a convincing murder you have to have discipline. You befriend a local idiot. Harvest the details of her hundrum life and cram her with stories about your husband’s violent temper. Secretly create some money troubles: credit cards, perhaps online gambling. With the help of the unwitting, bump up your life insurance. Purchase getaway car. Craigslist. Generic. Cheap. Pay cash. You need to package yourself so that people will truly mourn your loss. And America loves pregnant women. As if it’s so hard to spread your legs. You know what’s hard? Faking a pregnancy. First, drain your toilet. Invite pregnant idiot into your home and ply her with lemonade. Steal pregnant idiot’s urine. Voilà! A pregnany is now part of your legal medical record. Happy Aniversary. Wait for your clueless husband to start his day. Off he goes… and the clock is ticking. Meticulously stage your crime scene with just enough mistakes to raise the specter of doubt. You need to bleed. A lot. A lot, a lot. The head wound kind of bleed. A crime scene kind of bleed. You need to clean; poorly, like he would. Clean and bleed, bleed and clean. And leave a Little something behind: a fire in July? And because you’re you, you don’t stop there. You need a diary. Mínimum three hundred entries on the Nick and Amy story. Start with the fairy-tale early days: those are true, and they’re crucial. You want Nick and Amy to be likable. After that, you invent. The spending, the abuse, the fear, the threat of violence. And Nick thought he was the writer… burn it, just the right amount. Make sure the cops will find it. Finally, honor tradition with a very special treasure hunt. And if I get everything right, the world will hate Nick for killing his beautiful, pregnant wife. And after all the outrage, when I’m ready, I’ll go out on the water with a handful of pills and a pocket full of stones. And when they find my body, they’ll know: Nick Dunne dumped his beloved like garbage, and she floated past all the other abused, unwanted, inconvenient women. Then Nick will die too. Nick and Amy will be gone, but then we never really existed.
…
Amy [voiceover]: Nick loved a girl I was pretending to be. “Cool girl”. Men always use that, don’t they? As their defining compliment: “She’s a cool girl”. Cool girl is hot. Cool girl is game. Cool girl is fun. Cool girl never gets angry at her man. She only smiles in a chagrined, loving manner. And then presents her mouth for fucking. She likes what he likes, so evidently he’s a vinyl hipster who loves fetish Manga. If he likes girls gone wild, she’s a mall babe who talks for football and endures buffalo wings at Hooters. When I met Nick Dunne I knew he wanted “Cool girl”. And for him, I’ll admit: I was willing to try. I wax-stripped my pussy raw. I drank canned beer watching Adam Sandler movies. I ate cold pizza and remained a size two. I blew him, semi-regularly. I lived in the moment. I was fucking game. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy some of it. Nick teased out in me things I didn’t know existed. A lightness, a humor, an ease. But I made him smarter. Sharper. I inspired him to rise to my level. I forged the man of my dreams. We were happy pretending to be other people. We were the happiest couple we knew. And what’s the point of being together if you’re not the happiest? But Nick got lazy. He became someone I did not agree to marry. He actually expected me to love him unconditionally. Then he dragged me, penniless, to the navel of this great country and found himself a newer, younger, bouncier cool girl. You think I’d let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn’t get to win. My cute, charming, salt-of-the-earth Missouri guy. He needed to learn. Grown-ups work for things. Grown-ups pay. Grown-ups suffer consequences.
…
Nick: Punch and Judy puppets.
Margo: Remember, he beats Judy to death and kills that baby.
Nick: So I’m Punch. We already knew that, Amy, what’s your point?
Margo: Does Missouri have the death penalty?
…
Officer Gilpin: You ever hear the expression the simplest answer is often the correct one?
Det. Boney: Actually, I have never found that to be true.
…
Tanner: So, what in God’s name is at your father’s house, Nick? And be honest.
Nick: I honestly have no idea.
Tanner [after spotting the yellow police tape at the house]: Whatever they found, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s very bad.[/b]
Oh yeah.
[b]Tanner: This is a ticking time bomb. You’ve gotta throw yourself on it.
Nick: People are gonna hate me.
Tanner: And then, they will forgive you. A guy admitting that he’s a gigantic asshole on television? People empathize with that. Sharon’s specials, they get 10 million viewers. She is a crusader. If she takes you on as a cause…
Margo: She’s going to ask real questions.
Tanner: I will drill you as if you were doing a deposition. What to say, what not to say.
Margo: A trained monkey?
Tanner: A trained monkey who doesn’t get a lethal injection.
…
Tanner: Nick, this case is about what people think of you. They need to like you. Now, you do this and you will reach millions of those people.
Nick: Maybe I only need to reach one.
…
Nick [after Margo checks the internet following his appearance on Sharon Shieber]: What does it say?
Margo: Oh, my God. You fucking killed it! They’re going crazy for you.
Nick: They disliked me, they liked me, they hated me. And now they love me.
…
Desi: You’re not bored?
Amy: Desi, how could I be bored? You can discuss 18th century synphonies, 19th century impressionists, quote proust in French. Nick’s idea of culture was a reality TV marathon with one hand down his boxers.
…
Nick [aloud to himself]: Come home, Amy. I dare you.
…
Nick: I’m leaving.
Amy: You really think that’s smart? Wounded, raped wife battles her way back to her husband…and he deserts her? They’ll destroy you.
…
Nick: Was there ever a baby?
Amy: There can be.
…
Nick to Det. Boney]: She told me she killed Desi. Not self-defense. Murder.
Margo: Can’t we get a wire?
Nick: That’s not gonna work. She had me strip naked, and stand in the shower.
Tanner: I swear, you two are the most fucked-up people I’ve ever known. And I specialize in fucked-up. You and Amy under the same roof? You should pitch that as reality television.
…
Nick: I can’t believe you’re just leaving now.
Tanner: You are not at risk anymore.
Nick: I’m the definition of “at risk.”
Tanner: You got a book deal, a lifetime movie, you franchised The Bar. You may wanna thank her.
…
Nick [after Amy makes him aware of the next “part”]: You fucking cunt!
Amy: I’m the cunt you married!
…
Amy [to Nick]: The only time you liked yourself was when you were trying to be someone this cunt might like. I’m not a quitter, I’m that cunt. I killed for you; who else can say that? You think you’d be happy with a nice Midwestern girl? No way, baby! I’m it.
…
Nick: Fuck. You’re delusional. I mean, you’re insane, why would you even want this? Yes, I loved you and then all we did was resent each other, try to control each other. We caused each other pain.
Amy: That’s marriage.
…
Nick [looking down at Amy but more in the way of a voiceover]: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do? [/b]