"There's a difference between really loving someone and loving the idea of her."*
The David Fincher directed film Gone Girl feels incredibly icy and sleek. Based upon the novel of the same name, the story begins with the disappearance of a beautiful blond wife from her home in middle America. Of course, then the husband becomes the primary suspect. There are signs of a struggle and a massive amount of blood spilled and cleaned up but no body. And as the husband, Nick, is thrown through the paces of both sheepish innocence and assumed suspicion, we begin to learn that the picture-perfect marriage was not quite thus at all or ever. There are clues that point towards veiled - and not quite so veiled - malice and maybe some signs of domestic violence, perhaps callous cheating, and the wife, Amy, might have been pregnant when she vanished. It all makes for a suspenseful procedural. Especially in Fincher's hands - just see the director's other polished and glassy efforts including Zodiac and Seven.
But there is even more to this story than just the aforementioned. There is a twist - a big twist - and I will attempt mightily to avoid spilling it here. But be warned: you might be able to guess at that secret plot point by reading further.
I can say that Amy, the girl who is gone, has a history. A sordid history of a malevolent nature. And it is dredged up as the searchers exhaustively poke through the woods, fields, trash heaps, and lakes within and surrounding the small town from which she has vanished - without real trace as to where she is now and if she is still alive. But there is evidence of a different kind in Amy's past, and I had to keep reminding myself that the novel and the film's script were written by a woman over and over again as I watched the narrative flex and stretch beyond all recognition of reality.
So it goes like this: Amy has a history of sociopathic behaviors - making up rape and physical and emotional abuse claims to punish the various men in her life. It's disturbing on many levels, and I know I am not the only one who got a strange sensation from this story's details. I can't help but think play with a few ideas about how this reads to me. It's just infinitely interesting to consider, but I certainly can't say that this was at all an intention of those writing the script or filming the movie. Humor me. To my specifically wired brain, Gone Girl the film reads almost like a screeching response to the current swell of voices speaking out against the gendered/sexualized violence inherent in our misogynistic culture. As the number of those survivors and allies against sexual and domestic violence grows and their voices increase in volume, Amy's outright lying and manipulation surrounding these types of acts can almost sound like an antifeminist rant - against those who decry misogyny and its innumerable attributes. To me, it reads like a knee-jerk backlash comment that could've come from those who benefit most from and buy into misogyny (even when they are not consciously aware of it). Amy's fabrications are their worst nightmare come to life, i.e. a woman making up claims of sexual and domestic violence to punish "innocent" men. It's another example of a commonly-employed excuse this culture pushes to denounce and silence those who come forward to critique it. Because there was once a woman who lied, all your voices - survivors and allies alike - are questionable and, thus, discredited.
It is a questionable reading of this film, to be sure. But I do know I am not the only one who had that prickly haired feeling when Amy's history and nature of malicious and vengeful acts was revealed. It sounds a lot like something I have heard so many, many times before.
"What are you thinking? What are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?"*
*dialogue from the film
