One of October’s major entries, Gone Girl is David Fincher’s latest film. After making The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), The Social Network (2010), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Zodiac (2007) and Fight Club (1999), it is difficult to avoid Fincher’s work. In 2014, the highly skilled director puts into images an adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl, a story about a man who sees the spotlight turned on him when he’s suspected of the disappearance of his wife. Starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, Gone girl is a quite interesting drama-thriller that will intrigue everyone.
Known for his visually stricking films, Fincher is particularly fervent of dark violent scenes. Tense, clever and popular, his films illustrate Fincher’s strong interest for esthetics. Since the making of Seven, Fincher has been working with Jeff Cronenweth. Then he has been collaborating with great cinematographers such as Darius Khondji, who worked with Polanski and Wong Kar Wai, and Harris Savides, who worked with Gus Van Sant and Sofia Coppola. He is a visual director and a perfectionist. Fincher did 99 takes for a single Social Network scene.
In Gone Girl, Fincher’s cinematography is as good but not as surprising. Gone Girl has a blue-grey dark tone and mood that stands the entire film. Only one scene breaks this linear trajectory. It’s something similar to Takashi Miike’s Audition. From this precise moment, the film cannot be the same. It undeniably leads to few possibilites of endings.
Lots of contention for the readers with Gone Girl’s ending. People went strongly about weather they loved it or hated it. Writer Gillian Flynn has had a giant critical and commercial success with Gone Girl. She was actually quite surprised by people’s reactions. Having Rosemary’s Baby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf as two of her all-time favorite works, Flynn finds nothing wrong in fishtail endings. She explains that she never really needed a hero narrative. She’s not the type. Open endings can be very interesting but definitely a matter of personal taste. Oscars coming up, Gone Girl will probably be nominated for best Cinematography, director or Writing-adapted Screenplay. It wouldn’t be David Fincher’s first Oscar nomination, and let’s hope not the last.
Notes and Cinema 