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"Gone Girl" is art and entertainment, a thriller and an issue, and an eerily assured audience picture. It is also a film that shifts emphasis and perspective so many times that you may feel as though you're watching five short movies strung together, each morphing into the next.

At first, "Gone Girl" seems to tell the story of a man who might or might not have killed somebody, and is so closed off and alienating (like Bruno Richard Hauptmann, perhaps) that even people who believe in his innocence can't help wondering. His name is Nick Dunne ( Ben Affleck ). He's a college professor and a blocked writer. His dissatisfied wife Amy ( Rosamund Pike ) disappears one day, prompting local cops to open a missing persons case that becomes a murder investigation after three days pass without word from her. Amy and Nick seemed like a happy couple. The snippets from Amy's diary, read in voice-over by Amy and accompanied by flashbacks, hint at differences between them, but not the sort that seem irreconcilable (not at first, anyway). Were things ever really all that sunny, though? If they weren't, which spouse was the main source of rancor? Can we trust what Nick tells the homicide detectives ( Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit , both outstanding) who investigate Amy's case? Can we trust what Amy tells us, via her diary? Is one of the spouses lying? Are they both lying? If so, to what end? 

The film raises these questions and others, and it answers nearly all of them, often in boldface, all-caps sentences that end with exclamation points. It is not a subtle film, nor is it trying to be. As directed by David Fincher ("Se7en," " Zodiac ") and as adapted by Gillian Flynn from her bestselling potboiler, "Gone Girl" suggests one of those overheated, fairly comic-bookish "R"-rated thrillers that were everywhere in the late '80s and early '90s. Like those sorts of pictures, "Gone Girl" is dependent upon reversals of expectation and point-of-view. As soon as you get a handle on what it is, it becomes something else, then something else again. Describing its storyline in detail would ruin aspects that would be counted as selling points for anyone who hasn't read Flynn's book. That's why I'm being so vague. 

Suffice to say that its explicit sex and violence and one-damn-thing-after-another, to-hell-with-realism plotting put it in the " Basic Instinct "/" Fatal Attraction "/" Presumed Innocent " wheelhouse. It is a  metafictionally- minded version of a bloody domestic melodrama that actually uses the word "meta" (in a scene where Nick and the cops discuss his bar,  which  is named The Bar). It ties much of its mystery plot to an anniversary scavenger hunt with clues enclosed in numbered envelopes marked "clue." Key scenes revolve around public statements that are in some sense performances, and that are evaluated by  onlookers  in terms of their believability.   

And yet it never crosses the line and becomes too much a deconstruction or parody.   It's a plot-obsessed picture that's determined to stay one step ahead of  the  audience at all times, and cheats when it feels it has to. It is a perfect example of a  sub-genre  that the  great critic Anne Billson has labeled " the preposterous thriller, " in which "characters and their behavior bear no relation not just to life as we know it, but to any sort of properly structured fiction we may have hitherto encountered." 

Many classic and near-classic films can be slotted into this sub-genre. One of them is Alfred Hitchcock's " Vertigo ," a film in which the bad guy's scheme makes no sense if you think about it for longer than thirty seconds and that, in any event, would have unraveled had even the smallest part of it not gone precisely as envisioned . (How did Gavin and imposter-Maddie get out of the bell tower, anyway, without  being seen by anybody, including Scottie? Was there a second stairwell? )  After  "Gone Girl" I overheard a couple listing all the dropped plot threads and  narrative holes big enough to hide aircraft carriers in. This isn't the sort of movie that can withstand that kind of scrutiny. You might as well say, "That part in my dream where the penguin told me where to dig for the treasure seemed unrealistic."

What of "Gone Girl" as a parable of gender relations, one that eventually takes an ugly misogynist turn? I've heard these  charges  leveled, and they have merit. You'll understand what I mean once you've seen the movie. At the same time, though, as we evaluate those complaints, we owe it to Flynn, Fincher and everyone involved to take into account what sort of film this is, what mode it's operating in, and how transparent it is about what it's doing, how it's doing it, and why. "Gone Girl" is a nightmare of love gone cold and a relationship gone south, coupled with an elaborate revenge fantasy that both exploits and reclaims sexist images and assumptions. It's  also  a film about a psychopath who turns an ordinary life into chaos.  Like a lot of Hitchcock—and like certain domestic nightmares by such filmmakers as Brian De Palma and Luis Bunuel —each scene in the movie refers, however obliquely, to real fears, real emotions and real configurations of love or friendship. But at the same time, not a single frame is meant to be taken literally, as a documentary-like account of how people are, or should be, or shouldn't be. It's working through primordial feelings in the manner of a blues song, a pulp thriller, a film noir, or a horror picture. 

These modes all trade in stereotypical views of the essences of masculinity and femininity. All are politically incorrect by definition. All seem to have had at least some bearing on "Gone Girl."  The  movie is sick joke, a fable and a lament. It's "He done her wrong" and "She done him wrong." It's "Men are spineless pigs" and "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."  If you make blanket assumptions about what men and women are capable of, and the  circumstances  under with they're capable of it, this film will confirm them. "Your chin," Amy tells Nick in a flashback, "it's quite villainous." He covers it up with his finger, but now that she's pointed it out, you can't not stare at it.  

The most intriguing thing about "Gone Girl" is how droll it is. For long stretches, Fincher's gliding widescreen camerawork, immaculate compositions and sickly, desaturated colors fuse with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's creepy-optimistic synthesized score to create a perverse big-screen  version  of one of those TV comedies built around a pathetically unobservant lump of a husband and his  hypercontrolling, slightly shrewish wife. For most of its running time, "Gone Girl" is  "Everybody Loves Accused Wife-Murderer Raymond," sprinkled with colorful-verging-on-wacky supporting players ( including   Tyler Perry as a Johnnie Cochran-like defense attorney and Neil Patrick Harris as a former flame of Amy's who's still obsessed with her). Then it takes a right turn, and a left turn, and flips upside down. 

I'm not saying the film is genuinely clever throughout (though it is always fiendishly manipulative) or that every twist is defensible (a few are stupid). I'm saying that "Gone Girl" is what it is, that it knows what it is, and that it works. You know how well it's working when you hear how audiences laugh at it, and with it. Their laughter evolves as the film does. They laugh tentatively at first, then with an enthusiasm that gives way to a full-throated, "I endorse this madness!" gusto during the final half-hour, when the story spirals into DePalma-style expressionism and the picture becomes a maelstrom of blood, tears and other bodily fluids. There are allusions to the O.J. Simpson case, " Macbeth " and "Medea," and the ending is less an ending than a punchline that's all the more amusing for feeling so deflated. 

That it's  hard  to tell whether Fincher has an  opinion  on anything he's showing us or is just sadistically bemused, like an evil child tormenting insects,  somehow adds to the movie's dark vibrancy. This director is a misanthrope, no question. But misanthropes can be entertaining, and "Gone Girl" is that—not just in the scenes where women see through men and other women with furious contempt, but in throwaway moments, such as when an unseen man yells "Louder!" at the beleaguered Nick during a  press  conference, and when the film shows tourists gathered in front of Nick's bar, taking  selfies. This  is a sick film, and often brilliant.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Gone Girl (2014)

Rated R for a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity, and language

149 minutes

Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne

Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne

Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne

Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney

Patrick Fugit as Detective Jim Gulpin

Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt

Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collins

Missi Pyle as Ellen Abbott

Casey Wilson as Noelle Hawthorne

• David Fincher
• Gillian Flynn

Director of Photography

• Jeff Cronenweth
• Kirk Baxter

Original Music Composer

• Trent Reznor
• Atticus Ross

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Gone Girl Ending, Explained

“What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other?” It is impossible to sit with a straight brow when Nick Dunne, the protagonist of David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl’, adapted from Gillian Flynn’s eponymous novel, mouths these lines during the opening of the film, looking at his wife, calling them “the primal questions of marriage.” I, for one, am petrified as a man at the possibility of inhabiting the same space with any one of the female protagonists from Gillian Flynn’s fertile imagination. To be calling them demented, or sociopathic, or even psychopathic would simply be euphemizing the unsettling brilliance of these characters, and to the kind of complex yarn Flynn has spun them out from.

Having recently watched ‘Sharp Objects’, an HBO limited series based on Flynn’s novel of the same name, I admit that it was a nightmare revisiting Amy Elliott Dunne in ‘Gone Girl’. It is true when they say that ‘Gone Girl’ is possibly among the worst movies you could pick for watching on a date night. The film, simultaneously working as a deconstruction of modern marriages and media sensationalization in the current day and age also presents a frighteningly real picture that makes you paranoid and uneasy, while it may also go on to unnerve a thing or two in your relationship. Consider yourself warned!

What makes Gone Girl click, perhaps most, (not counting its obvious credits as a well-made film and a taut thriller), is that we have all been there. We have all been part of a manipulative relationship, stuck with a manipulative partner, or been cheated upon wherein all hell broke loose once the masks of normalcy were shed. While watching the film, Nick Dunne’s plight makes you feel for him, just as you feel for Amy when Nick’s affair is revealed, even looking for reasons to justify Amy’s twisted plan for revenge against Nick. The end is where all comes undone, and Amy does something the equivalent of what Nick could never have pulled off. I know of at least a dozen guys who turned and looked at their girlfriends in disbelief, looking at Amy’s antics on screen. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” could have then perhaps served as a better marketing line for the film.

‘Gone Girl’ is a story of the trials and tribulations that a couple, Nick and Amy Dunne go through in their young marriage. With all things breezy at first, life eventually hits hard and things spiral out of control as problems in their marriage and individual selves surface. With money problems at the helm and a failing marriage, Nick cheats on Amy with his young student, to which Amy decides to exact revenge by mysteriously disappearing one day and leaving an elaborately planned plot that unravels in her wake, sure to land Nick in prison for the murder of his wife, or penalised by death. The unraveling of the plan in brilliant fashion and Amy’s return when her plan doesn’t work out the way she’d hoped it would, form the major and best bits of this dark thriller.

While ‘Gone Girl’ is not Fincher’s best work by any yardstick, it is a solid and well-made film, benefitting heavily from the screenplay penned by Flynn herself. It is also one of his most entertaining films in the sense that it kept me glued even during repeat viewings, which is a feat in itself for a suspense thriller. Rosamund Pike as Amy is chilling to the spine in her most cold moments, and the effective bits of the film rest on her able shoulders. Ben Affleck too shines in the role of the husband, but the film almost entirely belongs to Pike’s performance and Amy’s psychotically manipulative character.

The Crackdown of Modern Relationships

The film might just be a discourse on modern relationships, marriages and romantic life in general for a contemporary couple. I am not saying that the horrific happenings of the second half of the film are how every relationship proceeds (we’d be damned), but consider this. Nick and Amy from the first half could be anybody. They are both smart, independent, appeal to each other’s sensibilities, fall for each other and naturally take the next step: getting married. So, what keeps that marriage afloat when you take off the rose-tinted glasses and things get too real too soon? It is the instant when even full-time commitment morphs itself into something greater that you truly see your partner for what they are.

Most marriages that make it past these ‘tests’ are those that last. It is, as Ben Affleck narrates at one instance in voiceover in the film while contemplating his failing marriage: “Want to test your marriage for weak spots? Add one recession, subtract two jobs. It’s surprisingly effective.” Nick and Amy’s perfect world too is tested, and as problems (money, jobs, credit, jadedness, priorities) come to the fore, their uglier sides are revealed to their partners, giving way to resentment. On their fifth anniversary, Nick wishes to inform Amy about his decision to seek divorce, not knowing she had different plans in mind.

Unequivocally, the ending remains the epitome of the film. Brutal, unflinching, and grotesquely unsettling, the ending leaves you with a sense of uneasiness that may last days. Let me try to sum it up, lest words fail to recreate the absolute shock of it.

Having been robbed of her money by her neighbours at the campground in the Ozarks, Amy turns to Desi Collings, her long-time lover and ex-flame against who she’d earlier filed a restraining order. She convinces Desi that she ran away due to Nick’s abusive nature, and he agrees to house her in his isolated lakehouse, hoping to rekindle lost love. Meanwhile, Nick is arrested due to incriminating evidence found against him, but not before he makes a rousing revelation on television asking for Amy’s and the public’s forgiveness in an attempt to lure her out.

This ‘ seemingly ’ works, as Amy, under the pretext of having sex with Desi, slits his throat with a box cutter and elopes, returning to Nick covered in Desi’s blood. She states Desi as her captor and confesses that he kidnapped and raped her, which is corroborated with Desi’s semen found inside Amy and footage and injury marks Amy staged to make Desi look guilty. The FBI buys that, even though Detective Rhonda Boney, the investigating officer is discerning and questions her on possible loopholes in her story. She returns home to Nick, and both of them pretend to be the happy couple the public sees them as.

On being confronted by Nick, she confesses she came back because Nick pleaded her on national television to do so, and she now wanted to see him become that very man. She threatens to destroy his reputation if he left, as Nick is left baffled contemplating his future with a killer under the same roof, even though she reassures she would never hurt Nick, also expressing her wish that Nick participates in correcting the wrongs of their marriage. This escalates as Amy starts acting like the perfect wife, preparing breakfast for him. Nick decides to expose her on TV for what she’d done, but Amy surprises Nick by revealing that she was pregnant by artificially inseminating herself using Nick’s sperm stored at a fertility clinic for testing. He threatens to leave, violently confronting her, but is manipulated into staying when Amy says that she won’t need to teach his child to hate him if he left. The two of them then continue with their lives under the limelight, also bagging a book deal, a movie offer, and a franchise for Nick and Margo’s bar, as they reveal Amy’s pregnancy on television, and the credits roll.

The Nick-Amy Dynamic

While I may not go as far as calling Amy a psychopath, she definitely is a sociopath, for the very reason she eloped and set Nick up in the first place. Also, in a latent, twisted way, she does care for Nick. There are definitely more facets to the fact that Nick chose to stay with Amy, and why Amy returned, despite all that conspired. At this point, it would be safe to say, Nick and Amy never really loved each other. They were briefly attracted to each other, but they ‘fell in love’ with the roles the other played, rather than their real selves.

Amy is a narcissistic, controlling woman. Nick is an ignorant and lazy fellow, not to forget a liar and a cheater too. That is what their reality is. A relationship between their real selves would be a ticking time bomb, as it later proved to be. Their roles, the ones they played at the beginning of the film that made them fall for each other, the masks they put on then made them return to each other towards the end of the film. It is then ironic that their resolution to not become “that” couple landed them exactly there.

The Nick-Amy dynamic is one that is not explained by a cause and effect relationship or linear mechanism, but is rather better represented cyclically, wherein one feeds off another. Amy derives strength to feed her narcissism and her constant need for attention from Nick, stating multiple times how he could not have landed anyone better than her. Nick sees himself rise to the occasion when he has to woo Amy, and this is the Nick he likes more, the cooler Nick: one who proposes in suave fashion in front of a group of reporters and has sex in a library to keep things exciting. Currently in the film’s timeline, he basks in the role of the loving, reformed husband who got a second chance at love. Their ‘roles’ is what they become in the end.

“Amazing Amy and the humbled husband!”, as remarked by Margo. Between all this, one is left to wonder who is the more manipulative of the two: the cheating husband who put up a face on live television, luring the wife out of hiding? Or the murderous wife who calculated every one of her moves till the very end? While you contemplate on that, this section has presented us with some significant findings that will help answer two of the most important character questions the film’s ending raises.

Why did Amy kill Desi Collings and return to Nick?

It would be crude to say that poor Desi Collings was just a bait sacrificed in the deadly game of one-upmanship that Nick and Amy found themselves in, but it is harshly true in a lot of ways. Yes, Amy returned to him when she was robbed and her plan backfired. The game changed when she saw Nick confess his infidelity on television, and pleaded for her to come back. “Maybe I only need to reach one” , he said. That, he did.

An important part of Amy’s planned punishment for Nick was public humiliation and for him to be hated by the nation perhaps. All that changed when Nick shifted the public’s sentiment towards him by becoming the remorseful husband who then had the public’s commiseration. That is Amy’s unbecoming, who then returns to Nick to resume her role, her faced that she’d donned, of ‘Amazing Amy’. She kills Desi in cold blood and uses her condition and ‘abuse’ to dodge any questions that may reveal the truth. Nick perhaps realises the true reason of her return, attention and the public eye, irrespective of the murder, when the first expression he has when Amy returns and collapses in his arms is “You f**king bitch!”. The last part of that may just be true.

As soon as she does return, her image in the public eye changes. From poor Amy who was abused at the hands of her husband, it becomes that of a fighter, and a survivor, one she happily enjoys and enrols her unwilling husband along to play the game, on her conditions. Fearful, but brilliant. She now has the public eye, and is confident enough to manipulate Nick into staying with her, and becoming the husband she desires.

Why did Nick stay?

Important question, with an arguably simple answer. I will let this fantastic piece of dialogue from the film let you in on it.

Nick Dunne: {Pushing Amy against the wall on being threatened] You fucking cunt! Amy Dunne: I’m the cunt you married. 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 Dunne: 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 Dunne: That’s marriage.

Nothing, I repeat, nothing in the film hit me as hard as this singularly amazing conversation. Kudos to Flynn for keeping it real. Behind the far removed illusions that our society currently finds itself rested on, the last leg of this conversation is like a kick in the groin. Now, back to scrounging for answers.

Yes, Amy’s revelation of her pregnancy and her threat of making sure Nick’s baby would grow up to hate him was one of the reasons, but it wasn’t the only one. Nick stayed because of what Amy said; as twisted as it may sound, Nick began to draw some sort of sadistic gratification from the little game that transpired upon Amy’s return back home. As discussed, The Nick he became when he wanted to woo Amy was the Nick Amy wanted him to be. The Nick he became from rising up to Amy’s little game is the Nick he wanted to be. With his little time in the limelight and stint with the media and the public, fickle as the Roman mob, he has learnt the game of manipulation that Amy masters. Deep inside, he WANTS to be seen as the loving husband who will give everything to make their marriage work, upon being given a second chance at love. Again, twisted, but brilliant.

What next for Amy and Nick?

“When two people love each other and can’t make that work, that’s the real tragedy.”

Far from making it work, actually. Tanner Bolt was correct on account of saying two things. One, Amy and Nick’s current predicament is a perfect predicament. A twisted, almost psychotic, manipulative couple like that living under the same roof? I’d pay to watch that. The second, when he warns Nick not to piss her off, and we all know Nick is smarter than that.

For what’s said and shown, their future might hold more than just a book and movie deal. There will be tensions, manipulations and perhaps a violent confrontation and breakdown or two. Throw a baby in the mix, and things are bound to spice up a little more. They might even grow into the roles they assume under the guise of normalcy. However, in front of a camera, they’d both know better to put on their alternate faces, those of America’s tabloid sweethearts. A couple touched by the miracle of the Mississippi, a couple given a second chance at love, a couple that survived.

The film closes with virtually the same frame and quote it begins with, the prime difference being Amy’s diabolical smile, with Nick running his hands through Amy’s hair. Picturing her head, cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brains, looking for answers. Dear girlfriend, can’t resent that I didn’t think the same when the film ended. “What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?”

Read More in Explainers: Sharp Objects |  American Psycho | Passengers

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The complex nonlinear narrative of Gone Girl jumps back and forth across its story timeline, gradually revealing past events that affect the action in the present. Gone Girl opens with Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returning home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), is missing. This opening sequence instantly launches the local police – and the audience – into the central mystery of Gone Girl . But it’s far from the first scene to take place chronologically. During the ensuing investigation into Amy’s disappearance, Gone Girl keeps cutting back to events in the past that eventually led to her self-abduction.

Perfectly cast as Amy Dunne , Rosamund Pike earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her fierce, sinister turn as a resentful spouse who fakes her own kidnapping just to spite her husband. Gillian Flynn’s screenplay, adapted from her own novel, stays true to the source material with a lot of the same shocking twists and turns. The movie also adapted the book’s convoluted story timeline, carefully revealing crucial information to allow the audience to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Here's what the movie would look like if it played out in chronological order.

RELATED: 15 Movies Like Gone Girl Everyone Needs To See

January 8, 2005: Nick Dunne & Amy Elliott Meet

On January 8, 2005, at a party in New York City, Nick Dunne meets Gone Girl ’s villain protagonist , Amy Elliott, and his life is never the same again. Nick and Amy hit it off immediately as they have a lot in common, and they're both writers working in the city. Two days later, on the 10th, Amy writes about the meeting in her diary. Nick is entranced by the fact that Amy was the inspiration for her parents’ popular Amazing Amy series of children’s books. After they start dating, they quickly fall in love.

February 24, 2007: Nick & Amy Get Engaged

A little over two years later, on February 24, 2007, Nick and Amy become engaged to be married. Amy decides it's time to settle down, and she's happy enough with Nick to take the plunge with him. During their courtship, Amy reveals to Nick that the Amazing Amy character was an idealized version of her without any of her imperfections. At the time, before they become husband and wife in the Gone Girl story , Nick has no idea just how bad those imperfections are and how close they will come to ruining his life in the years that follow.

Summer 2010: Nick & Amy Move To Missouri

When the recession impacts Nick’s income and his mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, he and Amy make the not-so-mutual decision to move to Missouri. The move means that they can save money on living costs and also be closer to Nick’s family during a tough time. Amy writes about the financial crisis’s effect on Nick’s career in a July diary entry and writes about her feelings surrounding the move to Missouri in a September diary entry. Having to leave behind the glitzy metropolis of New York City to move to Nick’s hometown of North Carthage makes Amy resent him.

January 2011: Nick Begins An Affair With His Student

In January 2011, Nick starts cheating on Amy with one of his students, Andie Fitzgerald (Emily Ratajkowski). Engaging in an extramarital affair with another woman makes Nick even more distant in his relationship with Amy. The novel goes into more detail about Amy’s awareness of the affair. In the book, not only does Amy know Nick is cheating on her with Andie, but she also follows Andie around and stalks her social media profiles. She gets to know Andie so well from lurking in the shadows that she can tell her personality during the press conference is phony.

RELATED: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Gone Girl

October 1, 2011: Amy Starts To Fear Nick

On October 1, 2011, Amy writes in her diary that she's beginning to fear Nick. When she tells him that she thinks it's time for them to have a baby and start a family, he argues with her. As she tries to keep him from leaving the house, he shoves her. Amy’s diary entries are the source of some of Gone Girl ’s most quotable lines , and after Nick pushes her, she writes that she's worried about his capacity for violence. The diary entries about this fear come back to haunt Nick later when Amy goes missing and the police start looking into her conspicuous husband’s past.

Early 2012: Amy Prepares For Her Disappearance

In the months leading up to Amy’s disappearance, she talks a distracted Nick into increasing her life insurance to $1.2 million. Amy also racks up thousands of dollars worth of credit card debt in Nick’s name, so that when she vanishes, it will look like he killed her for the insurance money.

July 5, 2012: Amy Disappears

On July 5, 2012, Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, she goes missing. Nick comes home, and she is gone. Since he can’t get in touch with her, he eventually reports her disappearance to the police, who quickly find alarming diary entries that seem to incriminate Nick — all of these are fabricated by Amy, proving to be among Fincher’s best villains , in order to frame her husband.

July 6-11, 2012: Nick Begins An Attempt To Clear His Name

The day after Amy’s disappearance, Nick holds a press conference to portray himself as a concerned spouse. The next day, a photo of Nick with Shawna Kelly (Kathleen Rose Perkins) gains widespread media attention and prompts more scrutiny. The day after that, Nick holds another press conference and a vigil in Amy’s honor, but he also sleeps with his mistress, Andie. Over the next few days, Nick hires attorney Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry), who convinces him to go on live TV to appear innocent. Meanwhile, Amy is staying at a campground in the Ozarks and waiting for Nick, a protagonist the audience roots against , to be convicted of her murder.

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July 24-30, 2012: Amy Stays With Desi Collings & Ultimately Kills Him

In late July, after being robbed by her campground neighbors, Amy visits her ex-boyfriend Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris), convincing him that she's run from Nick’s abuse. Amy and Desi watch when Nick goes on live TV and confesses to having an affair while reiterating that he didn’t murder Amy. When Nick’s rampant credit card debt is uncovered and the purchases are found in his shed – all a part of Amy’s scheme – Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) gets an arrest warrant and searches his property. After her plan fails and Nick is released from jail, Amy kills Desi and frames him for the kidnapping.

August 4, 2012: Amy Comes Home

After murdering Desi, Amy returns home covered in his blood ( a possible Gone Girl plot hole ) and claims that she killed him in self-defense. As she faints into Nick’s arms in front of a sea of news cameras, he is immediately cleared of all suspicion. She tells FBI investigators that Desi kidnapped and assaulted her, which she can "prove" with self-inflicted injuries. The story holds up because, years earlier, when their relationship ended, Amy had taken out a restraining order against Desi for stalking her. When Detective Boney tries to point out the inconsistencies in Amy’s account, Amy expertly turns it around on her.

September 23, 2012: Nick & Amy Decide To Stay Together For Their Baby

From the moment Amy returns home, Nick knows she is lying. He knows she faked the kidnapping to destroy his life and murdered Desi as a backup when the plan failed. In the weeks that follow, Nick secretly plots to do a live TV interview in which he'll expose Amy’s lies. This leads to Gone Girl ’s twist ending . On the morning of the interview, Amy reveals to Nick that she has inseminated herself with his sperm. Feeling trapped by responsibility, Nick decides to stay with Amy for the sake of the child. Against his better judgment, instead of revealing Amy’s crimes in the interview, Nick announces the pregnancy.

MORE: Gone Girl Ending, Explained

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Gone Girl review – a bracing, scalding sketch of a marriage in meltdown

Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel has become a feverish thriller that has all the emotional subtlety of a Punch and Judy show – but is all the better for it

• More on Gone Girl

T he knockabout Punch and Judy show undergoes a grand Hollywood upgrade on Gone Girl, a garish, gripping tale of a warring husband and wife that plays like a Relate counsellor’s worst nightmare. The fur flies and the blows are landed, and the smalltown cops are reduced to impotent bystanders. All credit to director David Fincher , who appears to take an unholy delight in tugging the rug and springing the traps. His film shoves us so forcefully past the plot’s mounting implausibilities that we barely have the time to register one crime before we’re on to the next. That’s the way to do it.

Gone Girl is lifted from Gillian Flynn’s 2012 bestseller, which split its chapters between two unreliable narrators to chart a mysterious disappearance and subsequent media firestorm. It’s a faithful adaptation of some faithless misbehaviour; a thriller that initially invites us to root for the woman and regard the man as pure evil. And yet if marriage is a mystery, then the truth is in the crossfire. Fingers crossed that it is eventually able to emerge unscathed.

Rosamund Pike plays “Amazing Amy”, the inspiration for a series of saccharine children’s picture books, who weds the man of her dreams only to find herself married alive in North Carthage, Missouri when the recession starts biting. Poor Amy. She’s ploughed the last of her trust fund into financing a bar for her husband, and what thanks does she get? Nick (Ben Affleck) has a mean temper and does not love her any more. He’s sleeping with a student; he doesn’t want to have kids. She confides to her diary that she goes in fear of her life.

But wait. “What about my side?” wails feckless Nick. The way he sees it, Amy is chilly and manipulative; she’s playing all manner of games. Nick swears up and down that he has nothing whatsoever to do with his wife’s disappearance, despite the fact that the evidence is stacked against him and despite the daytime TV pundits who have begun baying for his blood. He implies that if this story has a victim, it might even be him. In this piece of seafront slapstick both protagonists believe that they are playing Judy while their partner stars as Punch. Maybe there’s a little of this confusion at the heart of every marriage.

When a plot is this fevered, good casting is crucial. Happily Gone Girl sets out from sound first principles, neatly juggling Pike’s unreadable sugar-frosted beauty with Affleck’s foursquare, alpha-male cockiness. Small wonder Nick soon finds himself derided as “the most hated man in America”: Affleck is never better than when he is playing the louse. He’s altogether too pleased with himself; his grin is too smarmy. He is saying one thing, while his face tells us another. If an enterprising producer ever saw fit to cast Affleck in a biopic of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, it’s a safe bet that half the audience would instantly start suspecting him of plotting to murder his flock and keep Mandela in jail.

Amazing Amy is missing, but might she also be dead? Up ahead one finds a twist in the road and a bloody conspiracy. In the meantime the film keeps changing costumes, covering its tracks. It’s nodding freely to everything from Fatal Attraction, to Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion, to The War of the Roses; all but tripping over itself in its rush to the climax. Thank heavens for Fincher, who keeps the tale so coiled and intense that we are prepared to stick with it, even as it pitches towards outright hysteria. He whips up a bracing, scalding sketch of a marriage in meltdown; a banner-headline study of the domestic hell that we make for each other. Poor Amy and Nick turn out to be their own deadliest enemies. Their petty sniping and grievances have run clean out of control.

Gone Girl, finally, may be no more than a storm in a teacup. But what an elegant, bone-china teacup this is. And what a fearsome force-10 gale we have brewing inside.

• Gone Girl’s ending: discuss the movie with spoilers
• First look review
• Ben Affleck
• Rosamund Pike
• David Fincher
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Dark, intelligent, and stylish to a fault, Gone Girl plays to director David Fincher's sick strengths while bringing the best out of stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

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Tyler Perry

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October 3, 2014

Drama, Suspense

Gone Girl, directed by David Fincher and based upon the global bestseller by Gillian Flynn, unearths the secrets at the heart of a modern marriage. On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?

Rated: R Runtime: 2h 28min Release Date: October 3, 2014

Directed By

Produced by.

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by Gillian Flynn

• Gone Girl Summary

The novel begins on the morning of Nick Dunne ’s wedding anniversary. On that same day his wife Amy Elliott Dunne disappears from their home in North Carthage, Missouri. A few years before, Nick and Amy moved from New York to Missouri, because Nick’s mother, Maureen , was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Amy, a native New Yorker, was not thrilled about the decision her husband made without even consulting her, and the move exacerbated the stress created by both Amy and Nick recently losing their jobs. Nick now works at a bar he jointly owns with his twin sister Margo, and also teaches at the local community college. Amy has never found work or made friends within their new community. Their marriage was in crisis at the point that Amy disappeared.

Nick receives a call from his neighbor about suspicious signs at his house and hurries home to find that his wife has vanished. Alarmed by possible signs of her having been abducted, he immediately calls the police. By nighttime his house is filled with cops and news reporters. The widespread media attention comes in part from Amy's fame as the inspiration for the fictional character in the Amazing Amy book series. The series was written by her parents Rand and Marybeth Elliott , who are child psychologists. Rand and Marybeth are called to assist in the search for their daughter. Questions about who might have hurt or abducted Amy raise a number of suspects from her past: Hillary Handy , an obsessed fan of the Amazing Amy books; Desi Collings , her prep school boyfriend who had been obsessed with her for years; and Tommy O’Hara , Amy’s ex- boyfriend who she accused of rape. While initially people are kind and supportive to Nick, he quickly notices that the detectives question him closely and have suspicions. Nick knows that in cases where a woman vanishes, her husband or boyfriend is often the prime suspect. As a result, he tries not to reveal that his marriage was troubled, or any other details that might implicate him, which results in him telling a series of lies to the police and detectives.

The narration of the events surrounding the disappearance, told from Nick's perspective, alternates with a series of diary entries written by Amy, detailing the period from the moment she met Nick to the day before her disappearance. The diary shows Amy as an optimistic, loving, and supportive wife. While she and Nick initially have a picture perfect romance, the stress of job loss and the move takes a toll on their relationship. The diary describes Nick gradually becoming distant, possessive, violent, and demanding to Amy, which causes Amy to become frightened of him. She even buys a gun in order to protect herself if necessary. The last entry in the diary, from the day before Amy's disappearance, ends with her making a dark joke about possibly being killed by Nick.

While looking for clues in the Dunne house, detectives find an envelope with the clues Amy has written for a treasure hunt, a ritual she observes every year for their anniversary. As Nick follows the clues, he becomes increasingly concerned and suspicious that Amy knew more about some of his secrets than she let on. As he reflects on his wife's personality as a strong-willed, obsessive, and power-hungry woman (an idea that does not align with Amy's personality as it is presented in the diary), he begins to wonder if Amy has somehow staged the disappearance herself in order to frame him and punish him. As days pass, detectives uncover more and more evidence which cause Nick to look more and more suspicious: there are signs of blood loss on the kitchen floor, evidence of marital problems, and expensive credit card transactions in Nick's name, which he swears he didn't make. Several of Nick's initial lies get exposed, and he also makes negative impressions in the media. Nick is also very afraid of his biggest secret being exposed: he has been having an affair with one of his students, a young woman named Andie.

The situation grows worse and worse for Nick, until during a candle light vigil honoring Amy, Noelle Hawthorne , Amy’s best friend, interrupts his speech to accuse him of murdering his wife, and also reveals that Amy was pregnant. Nick finds this news shocking. A few years earlier, he and Amy had pursued fertility treatments in hopes of getting pregnant, but she then lost interest in the plan. However, Amy's medical records confirm that she was indeed pregnant, creating even more public sympathy and pressure to find her. Nick is increasingly convinced that he is the victim of an evil scheme on Amy's part. The last clue of Amy’s treasure hunt leads him to the woodshed that Margo has in her home, which contains the purchases charged to the credit card. This strongly gives the impression that Nick has been plotting his wife's death.

Part Two begins with Amy narrating the events surrounding her disappearance. She has created an elaborate plan, which she has been working on for over a year, in order to fake her own murder and frame Nick for it. Increasingly disappointed in and frustrated by her husband, when she discovers he is having an affair, that is the final straw. She has written the diary purposefully to fabricate an image of herself as sweet, sympathetic, and innocent, and to make Nick look capable of a violent crime. She also opened the credit cards and made all the purchases, and faked a pregnancy by using the urine of her pregnant friend Noelle and passing it off as her own. On the day of the disappearance, she cuts herself and sheds her blood to make it look like she has been attacked, also staging the house to suggest an intrusion and a struggle. Using a disguise and a car she has secretly purchased, she then drives to a cabin in the Ozarks to hide out. She plans to enjoy watching Nick be accused of her murder and go to prison for it. The final step will be for her to kill herself and allow her body to be found, apparently confirming his guilt, so that he will be executed for her murder.

The narration now alternates between Amy and Nick's perspectives. Nick, aware of how much suspicion surrounds him, hires Tanner Bolt , an attorney most famous for winning cases for men accused of murdering their wives. He confides to Tanner his belief that Amy has framed him, and Tanner helps to do some damage control to Nick's image. It seems like he might again become an object of sympathy, but the revelation of his affair with Andie is more damning news. The police also find the items hidden in the woodshed, and arrest Nick for the murder of his wife. Meanwhile, Nick has been conducting his own research into Amy's past and finds that many of the stories she has told don't seem to be true, and suggest that she is highly skilled at lying and manipulation. Nick knows that his only hope is to convince Amy to come back, and he tries to make himself as appealing to her as possible, while secretly planning to kill her once she returns.

Amy's plans go awry, first as she becomes less interested in the idea of suicide, and second after some people she meets in the Ozarks steal all the money she had saved to survive on. She now has to change her plan, and she reaches out to Desi Collins, her wealthy ex-boyfriend. She tells him that she has run away because Nick was abusing her. Because Desi is obsessively in love with her and wants her all to himself, he takes her to his lake house. Once there, Amy increasingly finds Desi oppressive and controlling. As Amy watches Nick's interactions with the media, she finds herself more attracted to him. She decides to escape from Desi and return to Nick. Knowing what Desi finds attractive, she seduces him and then, after they have sex, she drugs him with sleeping pills.

Nick is shocked, when forty days after disappearing, Amy shows up at his doorstep, bloody and bruised. The story she tells both Nick and the police at first is that she was abducted by Desi, who unexpectedly showed up at her house on the day of the anniversary. Since then, he has been holding her captive and raping her repeatedly. She was finally able to get her hands on a knife, which she attacked him with, killing him, and then returned in shock to her home. She also accounts for her pregnancy by saying that she had a miscarriage shortly after being abducted. Nick doesn't believe this story, and tells her so, but he plays along with the story in front of the elated media because it confirms his own innocence. Amy's medical examination corroborates her story and while some of the detectives see suspicious holes in her account, she is able to defuse further questioning by accusing them of being incompetent and having been fixated on pursuing the wrong suspect.

Alone with Nick, Amy admits to the whole story, including deliberately murdering Desi and faking her escape just as she faked her abduction. He is horrified and disgusted, and wants to reveal the story to the world. Amy, however, has been careful to ensure that there is no record of this confession, and she also still has fodder for blackmail. The diary was never revealed as fake, and in it Amy documents an instance that strongly suggests Nick poisoned her with antifreeze. To further corroborate it, she did in fact consume antifreeze and saved and froze some of her vomit. If this evidence is revealed and tested, she can accuse Nick of attempted murder. Supported by Margo, Tanner, and Detective Boney, all of whom by this point believe that Amy faked her disappearance, Nick decides to wait.

Amy and Nick continue in a stalemate, warily living together. Amy begins writing a memoir about the public story of her experiences, which she knows will make her a lot of money. She also alludes to a plan to absolutely ensure Nick will never betray her secret. Nick, still angry, begins writing his own memoir revealing the truth about her. He is shocked when Amy reveals that she is pregnant: she had herself inseminated with sperm frozen from the couple's fertility treatments. She makes it clear that if Nick ever betrays her, she will turn the child against him, and feeling protective of their future son, Nick gives up any hope of revealing Amy's deceit and accepts that the two of them are stuck with each other. He deletes his book. The two build a fragile relationship, and the novel ends with the impending birth of their child, who is due on their wedding anniversary, one year after Amy's disappearance. However, the ending makes it clear that Amy's sociopathic need for power, and Nick's disgust with her, will never go away.

Gone Girl Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Gone Girl is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Are the problems solved or is a resolution reached by the end of “Gone Girl”? How might this film affect viewers as they return to their everyday activity? Will it inspire more hope and faith, or more despair?

The novel's final section is ambiguous as to who has won the power struggle. Amy is being lavished with attention by Nick, and it seems that she has gotten everything she wanted. However, under the apparently loving exterior, Nick feels disgust...

Check out GradeSaver's theme page for a wealth of information on the way contemporary American society is portrayed in the novel. GradeSaver's study guide is readily avaiable for your use.

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Study Guide for Gone Girl

Gone Girl study guide contains a biography of Gillian Flynn, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Gone Girl
• Character List

Essays for Gone Girl

Gone Girl essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

• The Perfect Marriage: Gone Girl and The Couple Next Door
• Madwoman in the Suburbs: A Feminist Critique of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl
• “We Complete Each Other in the Nastiest, Ugliest Way Possible”: The Incorporation of Flawed Marriage in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Great Gatsby, and Gone Girl
• Amy Dunne Altercates the Dynamics of a Classical Detective Film Love Story
• Gillian Flynn's use of the double unreliable narrator

Lesson Plan for Gone Girl

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Gone Girl
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Gone Girl Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Gone Girl

• Introduction
• Plot summary
• Themes and interpretations

Gone Girl ending explained: Why does Amy come back to Nick?

Where did the girl go? We break down the ending to the hit psychological thriller below.

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Director David Fincher knows a thing or two about pulling the rug from under the viewer with his trademark twists - we all remember, Fight Club right? Gone Girl is no different - and to help make sense of the missing-person thriller, we have the Gone Girl ending explained.

With a star-studded cast comprised of Ben Affleck , Rosamund Pike and even Emily Ratajkowski, it came as no surprise that the film enraptured audiences in 2014, with Pike even receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Adapted from the best-selling book of the same name by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl follows Nick Dunne (Affleck), a Missouri man who may or may not have been involved in the disappearance of his wife Amy Dunne (Pike) and is subsequently hounded by the police and media.

Remarkably for a whodunnit, we find out fairly quickly if Nick killed Amy or not, but rest assured as there are plenty of twists and turns that will leave you questioning everything before the credits roll.

Given the effort to obfuscate justice with evidence tampering, lying and manipulation, it's no small wonder that plenty have been left unsure of what actually took place, especially considering the divisive ending.

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We're going to reveal all about the ending below and answer any lingering questions from one of the most convoluted missing person cases ever put to film - so watch out for spoilers below!

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Gone Girl ending

After murdering her ex-boyfriend Desi, Amy publicly returns to Nick covered in blood, purposefully hugging Nick in front of the paparazzi cameras. Amy then gives a false account to Detective Boney, framing Desi for her kidnapping and dispelling Nick of suspicion.

Once at home, Amy takes Nick into the shower to make sure he's not wearing a wire and then admits to killing Desi so that she could return to Nick. Nick threatens to leave her, but Amy points out that leaving his recently kidnapped wife would ruin his reputation. Nick shares this information with Boney, his sister Margot and his lawyer Tanner Bolt, but all agree that without a confession there is no evidence to back him up.

Nick and Amy agree to an exclusive interview with TV host Ellen Abbott, where Nick plans to expose Amy's actions and her real nature. However, Amy reveals that she is pregnant, having inseminated herself with a sperm sample that Nick had provided to a fertility clinic years earlier. Nick reacts angrily, but realises he will have to stay with her in order to be part of his child's life. This devastates Margot, but Nick commits and the couple announces on camera that they are expecting a child. Amy wins, and Nick will spend the rest of his child's life in a dysfunctional relationship with Amy.

Did Nick Dunne really push Amy Dunne?

A confusing one here - while we do see a flashback scene showing Nick Dunne pushing Amy, it is then revealed that Amy's diary is an unreliable narrator, telling the true story of their happy early years together before fabricating several allegations of abuse and violence. This suggests that Nick did not actually push Amy, especially as they were supposedly arguing over Nick not wanting to have children - Nick later tells his sister that he did in fact want children and even visited a fertility clinic, which is proven to be true at the end of the film. Amy falsified the event in order to suggest that Nick was capable of violence and she was scared of her, which could then be used as evidence against him in her "murder" case.

However, the film leaves things ambiguous enough that a similar event could have happened. Nick is shown to have a temper throughout the film - shown particularly when he smashes his glass - and he does get physical in his final fight with Amy at the end of the film, suggesting he was capable. The film is not interested in giving a conclusive answer - some of the biggest themes in the film are perspective and narrative, of modern society and the media's obsession with the sensationalist side of the story rather than the factual, often simpler events that actually happened, and this scene, in particular, exemplifies that.

• Watch Gone Girl on Amazon now.

Why does Amy Dunne kill Desi Collings?

Desi was not initially part of Amy's plan, but she had no choice but to turn to him after she was robbed, which thwarted her future schemes. However, it soon becomes clear that Desi is controlling and manipulative - keeping her in the house surrounded by cameras, telling her what to do and encouraging her to dye her hair and return to how she used to look. She needed to escape, and make sure he wouldn't reveal that she was still alive.

Secondly, while watching Ben's interview on TV she decides that she wants to be with him after all. However, after framing him for murder she needs a reason to explain her disappearance and the fake crime scene she created, and thus concocts the story that Desi attacked her and held her captive. Desi of course cannot be allowed to refute this and tell the truth, and thus Amy kills him and claims it was self-defence - making sure to spill as much blood as possible to make it look like a struggle and to stage a dramatic return to Nick.

Why does Amy Dunne come back to Nick Dunne?

One of the most common queries about Gone Girl is why exactly Amy comes back to Nick at the end of the film, despite earlier hating him to the point of framing him for murder so he would receive the death penalty.

However, all that changes when Amy sees Nick's TV interview in which he expresses remorse for not being a better husband. Amy knows he is not being sincere and only acting like this to avoid prison, but Amy is attracted to Nick putting on the appearance of being the perfect husband. This was the charismatic charmer who Amy fell in love with - the Nick who pretended to be someone that Amy would like, while Amy lived up to the "cool girl" fantasy that she outlined in her iconic monologue. It was only after Nick stopped putting on this persona during their marriage that Amy started to hate him, expecting her to still love him while she continued being society's expectation of the ideal wife.

Amy supposedly escaping her kidnapper and returning home gives her story a (fake) fairytale happy ending, and she can then use her pregnancy and the court of public opinion to blackmail Nick into being the picture-perfect husband. In return, she'll pretend to be the ideal sweet, innocent wife and mother and they'll live out their lives as a fantasy pretending to be other people.

How did Amy Dunne get pregnant?

After Amy admits to faking her earlier pregnancy, it comes as a surprise when it is revealed that Amy actually is pregnant at the end of the film.

It's clear that Nick does not sleep with Amy once she returns, as he is clearly wary of her and sleeping in a separate room. However, Nick explained earlier in the film that he provided a sperm sample to a fertility clinic a year ago when the couple were trying to conceive, only for Amy to change her mind. Nick later received a letter stating that his samples would be destroyed if they did not get in contact - and after seeing Amy throw away the letter, he assumed his samples were lost.

However, it seems that Amy did indeed claim Nick's samples, and shortly after returning she inseminates herself so she can extort Nick into staying with her for the next 18 years.

Why does Nick Dunne stay with Amy Dunne?

As it's implied in the movie, Nick stays with Amy primarily for the sake of his unborn child. Nick feels responsible for the child and will not walk away now he is aware of Amy's true colours. Recent events have painted Amy as America's sweetheart while Nick was briefly the most hated man in America, so if Nick leaves her he is unlikely to receive custody - and on top of things Amy has threatened to turn their child against him.

However, it is hinted during Nick's conversation with Margot that he actually wants to stay with Amy really. Amy points out that the only time he has ever liked himself was when he was pretending to be someone else that she might like, that he'd never meet someone else like her and he'd never be happy with a nice, normal girl.

Some interpretations of both the book and film see Nick being a psychopath as well as Amy, and that they are too alike to let each other go. Both are now aware that their relationship is a fantasy but secretly like putting on a performance for each other, and are doomed to carry on playing games with each other in an endless cycle. Nick knows he'll never find someone else who would kill for him - and maybe he even likes that.

Gone Girl book ending

Perhaps the biggest plot twist of all, however, is that the Gone Girl film is a rare film that is actually rather faithful to Gillian Flynn's 2012 book.

There are a few key plot threads that were cut for time, however, with both Amy's parents and Nick's father having bigger roles in the book. Flynn's novel in particular explores Nick's father's hatred of women and Nick's subsequent rough childhood, which leads Nick to struggle with his own misogyny and helps explain why he refuses to abandon his own unborn baby. Nick's father is also a suspect in Amy's disappearance. Amy helps him escape from his nursing home that morning, which is briefly hinted at in the film.

Amy's parents also feature more heavily, as we see Nick desperately try and get them on his side in order to avoid bad press. The book also goes into detail about how Amy's parents often mourn the several miscarriages they have experienced, which to Amy adds yet more pure role models that she will never be able to live up to on top of the Amazing Amy books.

When it comes to the ending there are only a few minor alterations - in the book Amy kills Desi after drugging him rather than during sex, Nick plans to expose Amy by writing a book rather than during an interview, and Amy's pregnancy is never publicly announced.

However, there are a few more differences that mean the book ends with a slight semblance of hope. Desi's mother refuses to believe Amy's version of events and hysterically asserts that she killed Desi, and although the police turn her away this suggests at least one person will continue to fight for justice over Desi's murder.

Amy also thinks she has won, content that Nick has seemingly transformed into the man of her dreams and loves her under her strict conditions. However on the final page of the book, when Amy asks why Nick is being so nice to her he coolly responds: “Because I feel sorry for you... because every morning you have to wake up and be you.” This line clearly unsettles Amy - and suggests that perhaps the Dunnes will not be able to keep up this charade after all...

Gone Girl movie and book differences

There are quite a number of differences between the Gone Girl movie and the book but, overall, it is a fairly faithful adaptation of the source material.

The biggest difference is that in the film we get to see the story unfold from more viewpoints than just Nick's, so plot points are revealed to the audience differently.

Below are some of the biggest changes the movie made:

• Nick goes to the beach on the day of Amy's disappearance. In the book, Nick peels off to read old issues of Men's Health with Andie in a vacant garage.
• Amy intravenously draws blood for the murder scene . Amy in the book draws cuts herself instead.
• Amy frames just Nick. In the book, Amy is revealed to have had told far more lies and elaborately crafted schemes in the past.
• Amy kills Desi during sex . In the book, Amy crushes up sleeping tablets and kills Desi when he is asleep.
• Amy's plot starts unravelling at mini golf . In the book, Amy is far more blasé about paying for everything with her large stash of cash.
• Nick pleads with the detectives . In the book, Tanner Bolt speaks for Nick about how Amy is framing him whilst he is conspicuously silent.
• Noelle Hawthorne turns up during the search at the house . In the book, this is revealed through Nick's perspective when he finds out after the fact.

Movies like Gone Girl

There's been a slowly growing sub-genre of domestic murder mysteries, and although Gone Girl is arguably one of the best, there are plenty more if you're in the mood for more mysterious marriages, or indeed if you just fancy another psychological thriller packed with twists:

• The Girl on the Train - Yet another buzzy book adaptation with the word 'girl' in the title, The Girl on the Train also features a missing persons investigation full of twists.
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Director David Fincher sure had a niche in the early 2010s - he also directed this remake of the hit Swedish film, also based on a book, and following the investigation of a missing woman.
• Tell No One - A lesser-known option, this French adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel follows the grieving husband who discovers his murdered wife might actually still be alive. Sound familiar?
• Prisoners - One of the first big hits from Dune director Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners follows a man who takes matters into his own hands after the police fail to find his missing daughter.
• Thoroughbreds - For more morally complex female characters, Thoroughbreds stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke as two friends with a lack of empathy who begin plotting a murder.
• A Simple Favor - While A Simple Favor is more of a dark comedy than a thriller, the twist-filled murder mystery at the centre has a surprising amount in common with Gone Girl.

How to watch Gone Girl in the UK?

You can watch Gone Girl in the UK if you are subscribed to Amazon Prime , Netflix or Dinsey Plus .

If you prefer physical media, you can buy Gone Girl on Blu-Ray from Amazon for the highest possible fidelity.

How to watch Gone Girl in the US?

You can watch Gone Girl in the US if you are subscribed to Amazon Prime , Hulu or Max (HBO) .

Gone Girl is also available on Blu-Ray from Amazon if you want to watch it in the utmost quality.

Visit our Movies hub for the latest news and features, or find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide . Watch Gone Girl on Amazon now.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Violent, layered adaptation is dark but thrilling.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Self-deceit will lead you nowhere; everyone has se

The main characters are both complex and extremely

Self-inflicted pain; discussions of false rape all

Couples are shown having sex in different position

Frequent language includes "f--k," "a--hole," "bit

Lots of brands/products seen and mentioned, includ

Characters toss back hard liquor in times of stres

Parents need to know that Gone Girl -- David Fincher's dark but engrossing psychological thriller based on Gillian Flynn's best-selling 2012 novel -- centers on flawed, disturbing characters (played by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, among others). The subject matter is as grim as it gets -- abduction,…

Positive Messages

Self-deceit will lead you nowhere; everyone has secrets; relationships have depths that no one outside of them could begin to guess at.

Positive Role Models

The main characters are both complex and extremely flawed. Their behavior is the opposite of exemplary. On the slim plus side, a detective sets about finding the truth, rather than easy answers. And two adult siblings are truly supportive of each other, even if they're far from perfect.

Violence & Scariness

Self-inflicted pain; discussions of false rape allegations; menacing moments with a stalker; a man shoves a woman while trying to rob her; a particularly gory scene involving a box cutter used to slash someone's neck. A man is shown roughing up a woman. The plot revolves around a missing woman; broken glass and blood are found at her home.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Couples are shown having sex in different positions. There's movement that suggests what they're doing, and, in one instance, a woman's breasts are plainly visible. A shower scene shows two people from behind (and, briefly, side-flash of the man's genitals). Fairly graphic discussions of sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent language includes "f--k," "a--hole," "bitch," "c--t," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Lots of brands/products seen and mentioned, including Volvo, Hasbro, Velveeta, Dunkin' Donuts, CBS, Coke, iPhone, iPad, Dreyers, Dell, Kit-Kat, Aim toothpaste, Big Lots, Fritos, 7-Up, Chevy Suburban, Ford, Prius, Roku.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters toss back hard liquor in times of stress.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Gone Girl -- David Fincher 's dark but engrossing psychological thriller based on Gillian Flynn's best-selling 2012 novel -- centers on flawed, disturbing characters (played by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike , among others). The subject matter is as grim as it gets -- abduction, infidelity, murder, betrayal -- making it iffy for all but the oldest teens and adults, who can better process the story's complicated and often violent twists and turns. Expect plenty of swearing ("f--k," "c--t," and more), fairly graphic sex scenes (including a female character's bare breasts and a couple naked together in the shower, with the man's genitals glimpsed), some drinking, and one particularly gory scene involving a box cutter. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (33)
• Kids say (44)

Based on 33 parent reviews

Intriguing and mysterious, yet sexually and violently graphic

What's the story.

On the day of his fifth wedding anniversary, bar owner Nick Dunne ( Ben Affleck ) faces a new world order: His wife, Amy ( Rosamund Pike ), has gone missing, their coffee table smashed to pieces. Cops descend upon the Dunnes' Missouri subdivision to help find her, but soon all eyes are trained on Nick, who hasn't exactly been a model husband. But Amy hasn't always been the perfect wife, either. Nick has his sister Margo (Carrie Coon) on his side and soon enlists a lawyer ( Tyler Perry ) famous for defending the indefensible. Everyone -- including Nick, who's desperate to clear his name -- wants to know: Where is Amy?

Is It Any Good?

Director David Fincher 's steady hand effortlessly guides GONE GIRL's transition from noir-ish page-turner to psychological thriller. It's a creepy, unsettling ride, testing audiences' loyalties and freaking them out a little, too, as they teeter to and fro. The book makes better work of asking salient questions about the nature of relationships; the movie amps up the source material's more tabloid-y side. It's violent, yes, but judiciously so, except for one scene that pushes boundaries -- perhaps so viewers can feel the impact, in full gruesomeness, of what humans are capable of, even if they don't appear to be.

In any case, we're riveted -- and not just because the framing and pacing and pretty much everything else about the movie are top-notch (except for the last 10 minutes, which feel tacked on), but because the leads are so compelling. Critics have long grumbled about Affleck's impenetrability. No matter who he's playing, we don't quite fully know what he's all about. But here he's totally present, and we sense his panic and confusion, anger and derision. It's quite a cocktail. But really, this is Pike's movie; in less able hands, the role of Amy, not to mention the scenery, would have been chewed to bits. Pike is precise, engaging, and perplexing. Even if you've already read the book, the film still holds your gaze.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Gone Girl 's violence . How does it compare to what you've seen in other thrillers and/or horror movies? Does the one particularly gory/bloody scene have more impact because it's different from the rest of the movie? Why or why not?

What role does sex play in the story? How is it entangled with violence? What message does that send?

Are any of the characters admirable? Are they intended to be? Who are we meant to root for/sympathize with?

If you've read Flynn's novel, what do you think of this as an adaptation? Is it faithful to the original story? If not, do the changes serve the film?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 3, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : January 13, 2015
• Cast : Ben Affleck , Rosamund Pike , Neil Patrick Harris
• Director : David Fincher
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Gay actors
• Studio : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 145 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity, and language
• Last updated : April 18, 2024

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/GoneGirl

Film / Gone Girl

Edit locked.

"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?" — Nick Dunne

Gone Girl is the 2014 film adaptation of Gillian Flynn 's novel of the same name , directed by David Fincher and written by Flynn herself. It stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike , with Neil Patrick Harris , Tyler Perry , and Carrie Coon in supporting roles.

The film's story follows Amy and Nick Dunne (Pike and Affleck), whose seemingly happy marriage has culminated in the disappearance of Amy on the morning of their five-year anniversary. With the combined factors of an intense media feeding frenzy and persistent police officers, Nick's picturesque image begins to crumble, and the spotlight turns on him when suspicions arise that he may not be as innocent as he's letting on...

Gone Girl contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion : During the montage of Nick and Amy's first marriage, they end up fucking at the library, where the clue revolved around Pride and Prejudice , with Nick quipping, "God bless Jane Austen " - Rosamund Pike played Jane Bennet in the 2005 movie adaptation .
• Abusive Parents : Amy's parents creating a fictional near-perfect child set a bar the real Amy could never reach and forced her to a life of being compared to her fictional self. When she goes missing, the parents act more like their fictional daughter has disappeared, even naming the website they set up after the character.
• Officer Boney is described as ugly in the books, but is nowhere near ugly onscreen.
• Noelle is described in quite unflattering terms by both Nick and Amy, but she's reasonably pretty in the film.
• Margo, for that matter, is described as quirky bordering on ugly (Nick says he has a thing for ugly women), but no amount of drab clothing or glasses can make Carrie Coon look like the sharp-featured, strange-faced woman described in the books. In a subtle nod, however, her hair in her introductory scene is indeed pulled back with the "nerdy girl barrettes" described by Nick.
• Adaptational Badass : The police are much more competent in this version when it comes to following up on early leads, which streamlines a lot of the early subplots. Most notably, in the film the police investigate the abandoned mall and learn that Amy had tried to buy a gun from the homeless men living inside ; in the book, this was done by Nick, his friends, and Amy's father because the police only investigated the mall during the daytime.
• The film version of Nick is a somewhat more sympathetic character than the book version, he's more of a regular loser than the near-sociopath he is in the book. Noticeably, while the book makes his awareness of her schemes more direct, the film has a very subtle example wherein Nick claims that they are "partners in crime." Amy looks visibly surprised. In the book, he also is so hell-bent on revenge against Amy, he repeats to himself lines like "Stupid bitch, stupid bitch" and "come home so I can kill you." He doesn't, but... yikes.
• While not exactly heroism, Andie seems to get a better deal in the movie than the book, likely due to her being borderline Demoted to Extra . In the book, every scene Andie appears in she appears progressively more ditzy and clingy, failing to grasp the seriousness of Nick's situation. However, her demotion also means the audience doesn't get the succinct and cutting "The Reason You Suck" Speech she delivers to Nick when he breaks it off with her in the novel .
• In the film, Nick has a number of scenes that show him doting on the family cat, Bleecker . In the novel, Amy was the one who had all the affection for it.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole : Unlike in the book, Amy never follows through on her plan to get rid of her car. In the book, after she meets Desi again, they dump the car and Purell every inch of it. This does not happen in the movie; as far as the audience is shown, she just leaves it in the casino parking lot. Since this would create a gaping hole in her story, it leaves a potential avenue for the truth to be uncovered, but this fact never gets addressed and the movie acts as though she unambiguously got away with everything.
• Desi's mother and Hilary don't appear in the film.
• Tanner Bolt's wife Betsy, his partner in law, is adapted out. Since Betsy was black and Tanner (in the novel) was white, the move resulted in a Race Lift for Tanner.
• Alto Villainess : Amy is a very rare speaking-only version of this trope. As the character, Rosamund Pike pitches her voice to be deep and almost husky — contrast against her voice in Pride & Prejudice (2005) or An Education .
• Animal Motifs : Amy is very much like a cat, as shown on her movements and stare when Nick is caressing her hair both in the opening and ending scenes.
• Babies Make Everything Better : Discussed. Amy suggests that they have a baby when their marriage is going poorly, and Nick turns it down, saying that a baby won't "fix" anything.
• Bait-and-Switch : Early in the movie, it seems like Amy's parents are throwing an engagement party for Amy and Nick, but it turns out to be a party for the fictional Amy, and they berate the real one for not wearing white and going along with the party theme. It's played with, though, as Nick actually does propose to her during the party, albeit in an unorthodox manner.
• Black Comedy : There are moments of it. For example, Amy flipping her hair to keep blood out after she kills Desi .
• Bookends : Both the first and last shots of the movie show Nick stroking Amy's hair while giving a voiceover monologue about the "primal questions of a marriage", before Amy turns to look at him to the upper-right. There is, however, one key difference between the two shots. In the first, Amy looks surprised, innocent, and even vulnerable. In the last, her surprise quickly fades, and she simply smirks .

• Broken Pedestal : The film is a bit clearer that, despite finding out that Nick is innocent , Margo has learned some fairly disturbing aspects about her twin brother's character. At one point Nick admits that he was somewhat relieved that Amy wasn't at home; Margo's unsettled look speaks volumes.
• Cassandra Truth : Nick is telling the truth when he says that he barely knows Noelle Hawthorne, and that he didn't buy any of the items that appear on his credit card. Also, at one point, regarding the underwear found in his office, he says something along the lines of, "If they're not Andie's, they're Amy's, and she left them there for me to find. " Neither the characters in the film nor the audience believe him, given his track record.
• Coincidental Broadcast : Every time somebody switched the TV on, it shows a report related to the investigation. Possibly justified, as Margo prerecords Ellen Abbot's shows.
• Conspicuous Consumption : Amy buys several extravagant "man-cave" items in Nick's name as a way to make it look like he was trying to build himself a new life once she was out of the way; she hides the items in Margo's shed to make her complicit as well.
• In-universe example. Nick points out how convenient it is for Amy's diary to end with her saying she fears her husband will kill her. Boney thinks so too, it's part of the reason she never completely buys into the idea Nick killed Amy, despite the evidence backing it up.
• It's pretty convenient for Amy that Desi lives in St. Louis and has an isolated lake house where she can stay for a while after her plan is turned upside down by having all her money robbed.
• Contraception Deception : As Nick was against having a child because "children don't always save marriages", Amy impregnates herself with Nick's sperm and uses this as a means to force Nick to stay trapped in a happy marriage facade with her.
• Nick and Margo's parents aren't given nearly as much focus in the film, with Bill only appearing in one scene and Maureen doesn't even get speaking lines. Justified, in that they are mostly used in the novel to explain Nick and Margo's own personality quirks.
• Andie has comparatively less screen-time compared to the books.
• Downer Ending : Nick's less sociopathic personality puts it more into this category. While there are those who are fully aware of everything Amy did, she planned things so perfectly that there is no proof, meaning she gets away scot-free. She also gets herself pregnant in order to trap Nick in their marriage as he can't leave because he'll be once again painted as unsympathetic to those who believe all of Amy's lies.
• Dramatic Irony : Halfway through the movie, we learn the truth behind Amy's disappearance while the public is kept in the dark.
• Exact Words : Margo predicts the manner of Amy's return before even Amy knows what she's going to do. "Anyway, whoever took her is bound to bring her back."
• Expository Hairstyle Change : Flashback scenes of Nick and Amy's marriage show her with long hair, which is cut shorter before she disappears.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat : Nick temporarily adopts this as a disguise when Ellen Abbot's show attacking him and implying an incestuous relationship with Go plays in the airport waiting area.
• In the movie, we get a short glimpse at Desi 's penis — after he has had his throat slashed open, with his corpse covered in blood .
• The things Rosamund Pike does to her body and the ways she crawls around to spread blood everywhere are very disturbing.
• Fanservice : A flashback showing Nick going down on Amy.
• Flyover Country : Amy does not like living in Missouri and her parents clearly look down on the locals as well.
• Frame-Up : Amy successfully frames an ex-boyfriend for rape after he leaves her for another girl, landing him on the sex offender registry and ruining his life. It's her word versus his, only she's also faked some evidence.
• Gray-and-Grey Morality : Nobody is completely good or completely bad.
• Halfway Plot Switch : Around the one-hour mark, we get an Internal Reveal and a switch of POV from Nick to Amy.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment : Nick and company are rather elated when he nails a great interview on national television; predictably, it doesn't last.
• Hollywood Geography : The movie takes place in Carthage, Missouri, but was filmed in Cape Girardeau which is on the other side of the state. What's egregious is that the movie constantly talks about the events taking place on the Mississippi River, being two hours from St. Louis, and prominently showing the distinctive Bill Emerson Bridge. Carthage does not sit on a major river, is about 4 hours from St. Louis, and about 200 miles from the Mississippi River.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence : Amy gives Desi what he's clearly been hoping for all along when she leads him to the bed in his lake house. He probably wasn't hoping to get his throat slashed, though.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure : When a disguised Amy pretends to be from New Orleans, she talks to Greta about drowning herself in the Gulf of Mexico and letting herself be eaten by great white sharks. Greta points out that it's bull sharks that live in the Gulf, and since an actual Louisianan would know that, she starts to suspect her .
• Amy and her parents. The family, stereotypical upper-crust coastal WASPs , continuously sneer at "shit-smelling" Missourians; Amy in particular is called a bitch by no less than three characters even before she turns their whole shit upside down ; her parents even modeled the character of Amazing Amy in everything the real Amy fell short in achieving. Understandably, Amy wasn't just simply not thrilled by this, it made her insane.
• Ellen Abbott from the NNL Network accuses Nick of not only the disappearance of Amy based on his out-of-character attitude from a person that is supposed to be in bereavement, but also accuses him and "Go" of having an incestuous relationship; later, she even has the proverbial balls of showing up at their house after her venomous tirade once Amy reappears and Nick even calls her out on her hypocrisy.
• James Gilpin also counts. Throughout the movie he constantly believes Nick is guilty and is always pushing Rhonda into arresting him. At the end, when Nick makes the very valid point that Amy couldn't have acquired a box-cutter if she was tied up the whole time, Gilpin just says, "Can't you just be happy your wife is back?" Also, unlike Rhonda, Ellen Abbot, and Amy's parents, he doesn't even attempt to apologize to Nick for painting him as guilty.
• Karma Houdini : Amy destroyed an ex-boyfriend's life for little reason, put Nick through hell and now has him under her control, and murdered Desi, yet she comes out of all this looking like a victim.
• Tanner and Boney stop helping Nick and Margo after Amy returns - they note that while they are sympathetic, the case is too big for local police and that Amy's hero status is currently impenetrable.
• Boney specifically states that the FBI being involved in Amy's case means that she can no longer have any involvement in it. She doesn't have any choice but to back down, even though she clearly isn't buying Amy's "kidnapping" story.
• Amy doesn't try to fight off Greta and Jeff when they rob her, knowing that they outnumber her. In the book, she mentions she's never been in a fight before and wouldn't know what to do outside of what she's seen in movies.
• Kubrick Stare : After showing her true colors, Amy demonstrates that she is a master of these.
• Laugh of Love : Nick and Amy Dunne tend to laugh around each other early in their relationship, but this trope is gradually averted as their seemingly-perfect marriage falls apart.
• Light Is Not Good : Before killing Desi during sex , Amy notably strips down to white lingerie.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places : In an early scene Nick and Amy have sex in a public library.
• Neil Patrick Harris gets a fan-disserving one.
• Ben Affleck has a blink-and-miss-it scene under the shower.
• Mouthing the Profanity : When Nick Dunne sells out his lover during a public speech regarding his wife's disappearance, she mouths "asshole" at him from the crowd.
• Mr. Fanservice : A likely unintentional one with Nick. Ben Affleck had started working out to play Batman by the time of filming and so is in very good shape, which the shower scene shows off (although the context of the scene makes it more of a Fan Disservice ).
• Never My Fault : Nick and Amy blame each other for their marital problems rather than acknowledging their own wrongdoings.
• An example that also provides an aversion to Trailers Always Spoil : one trailer has a scene of Amy's lifeless corpse sinking in the water , but in-film the event is simply an Imagine Spot .
• The trailers implied that Amy is dead or missing, not staging an elaborate revenge plan. That Nick is either guilty, or is trying to prove that Desi is the main villain. None of this is the case.
• According to the director's commentary, David Fincher fought hard with the marketing department to keep the twist hidden in all the advertising.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed : During the film, Amy's disappearance is covered by Ellen Abbott of the NNL Network, who quickly assumes that Nick murdered her. The segments are a clear spoof of the HLN Network and the Nancy Grace show.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome : Subverted. Initially we are not shown the interview Nick does with Sharon Schieber, but we are told he was performing exceptionally well. Eventually we get to see snippets of it when Amy watches the interview with Desi at the lake house. It's effective enough to convince Amy that Nick doesn't actually love her, but is willing to lie to himself enough to continue with the charade. Too bad for Desi.
• Amy's face when they first stepped on Missouri.
• Amy's face when Desi tells her that he is "never letting her get away again." Her expression is impassive, but her eyes are filled with terror.
• Desi, when he and Amy are watching Nick's teary interview on national television.
• When Amy tells him that she surrendered two million dollars from her trust fund back to her parents without even talking with him.
• When he tries to turn the tide around with a heartfelt speech for the cameras and the crowd that initially bodes well, but then Amy's "best friend" opens her mouth. Unsurprisingly, Nick bolts out of there in a jiffy.
• Again, when he opens the door to see Amy covered in Desi's blood from head to toe and then again when she giddily beckons him to join her in the shower still covered in blood .
• And then again when Amy reveals that she artificially inseminated herself with Nick's fertility clinic sperm.
• Margo has one of these when Ellen Abbott shares some compromising details about her and Nick on her show: Ellen: Nick keeps his father, who has Alzheimer's, in a facility. Number of times he visited him last year: One. Margo: Oh, fuck !
• Opening Narration : The movie opens and ends with a monologue by Nick.
• Overdrawn at the Blood Bank : There is plenty of blood in the scene where Amy slashes Desi's throat open. It's okay because the throat is a major artery. Blood doesn't so much gush as spray out when that one is cut.
• Paper-Thin Disguise : Played with. Amy goes to reasonable lengths to avert it - dyes her hair, forgoes makeup, wears glasses, puts on weight, adopts a new accent and even smashes herself with a hammer to the face, looking reasonably different from her image in the media. However, a real victim of domestic abuse and trailer trash, Greta, sees through it and admits so when she robs her, even making a point of saying that she clearly has never been hit in her life. Then she socks Amy in the jaw.
• They also apparently aren't going to investigate Desi's movements during the days Amy was missing. For all they know he has an airtight alibi on the day she claims he took her. Also tracking him during the days she was missing would've revealed that he was at the Casino (places with the most surveillance in the world) with Amy clearly not against her will.
• When Nick makes the obvious point that it would have been really hard for Amy to get a boxcutter if she really was imprisoned, Officer Gilpin just asks, "why can't you just be happy that your wife is back?"
• Count how often Leffe beer comes up. Nick and Amy Meet Cute when Nick tells her to be careful where she puts her "monk-brewed Belgian wheat beer." She holds it up to the camera in some angles as they talk. It's also visible at The Bar and in Desi's refrigerator. Stella Artois and Hoegaarden, other Belgian beers owned by InBev, are also common.
• In her first scene, Detective Boney spends a substantial amount of time holding a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup.
• Race Lift : Tanner Bolt, who was white in the book, is played by Tyler Perry in the movie. The character had a black wife, who's been Adapted Out , and since Perry's Bolt takes on her media guru role, he could be seen as a Composite Character .
• The Rashomon : All versions of the events are from Amy and were especially engineered so that Nick didn't have a version to defend himself. Ultimately, she sticks by her story and even makes up new details to leave Nick completely at her mercy and unable to reach to anyone.
• Reasonable Authority Figure : Detective Boney never really buys the accusations against Nick, even once she finds the fake diary and assumes that his blunders are just a result of stupidity and shock. She immediately voices her suspicions so that Nick has a chance to provide his own context. Since Nick doesn't do that and antagonizes her by being uncooperative, it leads to his arrest after the police gets Amy's "anonymous" tip about the woodshed . Once Amy returns, she starts questioning the holes in her story, but is shut down by the FBI.
• Right Through His Pants : Inverted. Desi somehow penetrates Amy through her panties before she kills him.
• Rule of Three : Amy's love interests. We meet Nick first, and he seems like a fairly normal guy, if a bit stonefaced. The audience also knows he had nothing to do with Amy's disappearance. He meets an old boyfriend of hers, who tells Nick how Amy ruined his life with a false rape accusation. He's understandably bitter, but other than that, a fairly normal guy. By now, the audience is ready to discard Amy's parents' line about her always attracting obsessive lovers. But then we meet Desi.
• Sharp-Dressed Man : Desi and Tanner, who are almost always seen wearing business suits.
• Shout-Out : Nick can be seen playing what is quite clearly Battlefield 3 in one flashback segment.
• Shower Scene : Both protagonists together in a shower towards the end for fanservice.
• Spotting the Thread : Amy, in hiding, has said she's from New Orleans, and casually brings up drowning herself in the Gulf of Mexico ( It Makes Sense in Context ) and becoming "food for great white [sharks]." Greta informs her that "It's bull sharks in the Gulf." This is our first sign that Greta suspects Amy.
• Stepford Smiler : Amy is unique in the way that she doesn't just put a facade for Nick, but she has done so throughout her lifetime towards both women and men; in doing so, Amy is even more unique in the fact that she is a character that is both a misogynist and a misandrist. After the whole ordeal (murder, faked rape and all), she intends to continue the facade even when Nick sees right through her and she is even able to manipulate him into begrudging submission.
• Street Smart : Greta certainly doesn't have Amy's education, but she's no slouch at sniffing out lies and recognizing opportunities. She's savvy enough to see through Amy's story very quickly, and correctly reason that she's on the run and can't call the police if she's robbed.
• Symbolic Glass House : In addition to his city home (which doesn't qualify despite being both big and fancy), Desi has a home in rural Missouri that is all glass. Amy uses it against him when she realizes that she's essentially trapped and he has no plans to let her go, by throwing herself down and screaming in front of the glass doors and security cameras to make it appear as though she's being held captive as a Sex Slave .
• Symbolic Serene Submersion : The official trailer for the film ends with a disturbing shot of Amy, hair arrayed, sinking slowly beneath the water, apparently having been murdered. This shot is not actually in the movie, where it turns out she is not dead. The book connects this image to Amy's sense of drowning in her boring life and marriage to Nick.
• These Gloves Are Made for Killin' : Subverted. The mystery of Amy's kidnapping/possible murder is revealed in Flashback and it shows Amy herself is the culprit behind her fake abduction, and she wears latex gloves as she stages the scene of the crime to frame Nick after discovering his affair .
• A large part of her ability to manipulate people comes from their emotional investment in her. Almost everyone she successfully deceives have some form of personal relationship with her, be it her husband, parents, extended family, neighbors, ex-lovers, or fans of her work. Jeff and Greta have zero clue who she is, and the realization that she is unable to manipulate those who have no investment in her was likely a reality check and big reason she called Desi.
• Turn the Other Cheek : Despite her scorn over Nick's affair, Margo never falters in standing by her twin's side. As she puts it: Nick: Go, you're my voice of reason. I need you with me on this. Margo: Of course I'm with you. I was with you before we were even born.
• Two Lines, No Waiting : After the Half Way Plot Switch , the story splits off into two parallel story lines following Nick and Amy separately, but not necessarily in chronological order .
• Twincest : Mentioned by name after the media spreads rumors about Nick and Go.
• Unable to Support a Wife : Played with. Amy married Nick for him to become an unrealistic paragon of emotional and financial fortitude for her delusions; when he failed to deliver, she made it even worse for him by surrendering a two million dollar cushion to her parents and intentionally framed him as a reckless spender.
• Unfolding Plan Montage : Amy's monologue during the Internal Reveal includes images of what she is going to do, involving committing suicide by drowning . Of course, Unspoken Plan Guarantee applies and the plan changes due to unforeseen circumstances .
• Viewer-Friendly Interface : A close-up on Nick's phone reveals Andie's text message (that she is waiting outside) displayed in large font in the center of the display.
• Villainous Breakdown : Amy suffers a small one after Greta and Jeff steal her money, angrily shrieking into a pillow because for once in her life, something hasn't gone according to plan.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal : Nick proposing to Amy during an interview.
• What Happened to the Mouse? : After Amy's reappearance, Andie (Nick's girlfriend) is not mentioned again, albeit in hindsight she did good in getting the hell out of Dodge after accusing Nick of Amy's murder on national television.
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The Ending Of Gone Girl Explained

Based on the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, "Gone Girl" might seem like your ordinary psychological thriller on the surface, but there are many layers to this twisting tale. One of the best thrillers of all time , it's about the murder of a woman and the slowly unfurling mystery of who did it. Penned by the book's author, the film centers on Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) and her husband Nick (Ben Affleck), a once-happy couple whose story is upended when Amy goes missing. Before long, the seemingly innocent Nick becomes the prime suspect in the investigation. Viewers are left to wonder what's happened to Amy, though the jigsaw pieces slowly fall into place: Flashbacks narrated by the missing woman reveal a different side to their marriage.

With several stunning plot twists that will leave your jaw on the floor, "Gone Girl" is a story of betrayal, abuse, and murder, but it's not exactly what we've come to expect from this type of film. By the end, there's so much to unravel that you might still be wondering what really happened and who was actually to blame for the story's most horrific crimes. If you're still confused, worry not, because we're going to finally explain the ending of "Gone Girl."

What you need to remember about the plot of Gone Girl

"Gone Girl" isn't your ordinary murder mystery. Not only does it have an unconventional story, but its biggest plot twist comes earlier than most — and still might be the best plot twist of all time . It begins with the disappearance of Amy Dunne, who was once the basis for a series of children's books, and whose husband Nick is a writer, too. But the couple had fallen on hard times recently, with both losing their jobs in New York and being forced to move back to Nick's small hometown in Missouri. Nick's aloof attitude after his wife goes missing, combined with some curious credit card purchases and evidence of money troubles, suggests to Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and the wider public that he may have killed his own wife.

Midway through the film, however, we learn that Amy isn't dead at all, and that she has been planning to fake her own murder for quite some time, with an elaborately detailed plan. As it turns out, she carefully constructs her own death scene to frame her husband, wanting to escape her marriage. She even goes as far as to plan a suicide that will further implicate Nick. But she also left behind a series of cryptic clues for Nick to find that point to the truth, and after he secures the services of renowned lawyer Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry), he's hopeful that he can expose Amy's master plan with the help of his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon).

What happened at the end of Gone Girl?

Fueled by the coverage of over-the-top cable news host Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle), family, friends, and law enforcement all start turning on Nick, who becomes desperate to clear his name. But after it's discovered that he's had an affair with a younger woman and had recently added to his wife's life insurance policy, he looks even more guilty. To turn the tide he enlists another television presenter's help, agreeing to a public TV interview that he hopes will set the record straight. Unfortunately, police discover a fake diary Amy wrote to point the finger at Nick and he is ultimately arrested and charged with murder.

When Amy — who is hiding out with ex-boyfriend Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris) after being robbed in the Adirondacks — sees the interview, she makes a sudden turn and decides to save Nick from a death sentence. In a shockingly bloody scene, she seduces Desi and slashes his throat, killing him in cold blood. She then returns home and convinces authorities that it was Desi who had kidnapped, imprisoned, and raped her at his remote lake house. While Nick, Margo, Bolt, and Boney all know she's lying, there's not enough evidence to prove it, and the FBI closes the case. In the film's final scenes, Amy reveals in a joint television interview with Nick that she's pregnant with their first child, and Nick reluctantly agrees to stay with her to start a family.

How did Amy get pregnant at the end of Gone Girl?

The final twist in the film is the pregnancy that Amy reveals to the world at the end of the movie. She'd announced the pregnancy to Nick just before sitting down to the television interview, shocking her husband and nearly sending him away in a fit of rage — because he'd refused to sleep with her since she'd returned home. So how exactly did she get pregnant, and is the baby really Nick's? Some may have suspected that the pregnancy was the result of her recent sexual encounter with Desi, but the real answer is found earlier in the film in a scene between Nick and his sister.

In that scene, Nick claimed he'd wanted to have a baby with Amy, and to prove it he showed Margo a letter from a sperm bank. He'd gone there after he and Amy had trouble conceiving, and the letter was a notice that his sample was due for disposal if it wasn't used. At the end of "Gone Girl," though, Amy's pregnancy is announced and she seems confident that she'll pass a paternity test, so it can't be Desi's baby. Though she doesn't say it specifically, she implies that Nick's sperm was never destroyed and that she impregnated herself with his sample at some point earlier, in secret. It was all part of her twisted plan to keep Nick from leaving her.

Who was the real villain in Gone Girl?

The vast majority of murder mysteries have a clear hero and villain. In most stories like this one, a suspect who's been framed is usually completely innocent, and the real villain is easy to spot. But "Gone Girl" isn't your typical thriller: Nobody is truly without guilt. From Amy to Nick, from Margo to TV host Ellen Abbott, they all have some complicity in the film's worst crimes.

Nick, who we are initially led to believe is an upstanding husband being railroaded by a psychotic woman, is revealed to be both a liar and a cheater. He had an affair with a student half his age, and he lied to police — as well as his own sister — about much of his marriage. Margo, too, helped conceal evidence and hide information from authorities, while Abbott used her platform to demonize an innocent man.

But, when it comes to the real villain of the story, there can be no mistaking that Amy is the one person truly responsible for the most horrific acts. A textbook narcissist and possibly a sociopath, we learn that Amy has been using men for her own ends for years, and she has even wrongly accused multiple ex-boyfriends of serious crimes. Her obsession with controlling the men in her life makes her want to destroy Nick — almost to the point of seeing him executed for murder.

Was Amy ever really afraid of Nick?

One of the most distinctive storytelling devices in "Gone Girl" is the film's dueling narratives. While we see Nick searching for his wife, slowly revealing details of their life together, we also hear Amy reading out her diary and describing their relationship very differently. In her version, Nick is seen as an abusive, cheating husband prone to violence who she eventually comes to fear, prompting her to buy a gun for self defense. But when the diary is exposed as part of her plan to frame Nick, audiences may be wondering just how much of what she said was real.

While we can't say for certain (because Nick may also be an unreliable narrator), it seems likely that almost all of the abuse that Amy described in her diary was fabricated. While it's true that Nick admitted to being a bad husband — acknowledging his infidelity — he denied ever laying a hand on his wife. Late in the film, we also get an admission from Amy that it wasn't abuse that made her want out of her marriage to Nick, but his inability to be the man she wanted to spend her life with; A driven, devoted, and adoring husband. When he went on TV and professed his love for her, and his determination to find her, it rekindled her feelings for him. 

Why did Amy do it, and why did she return to Nick?

Though Amy reveals her master plan in great detail, admitting to faking her diary and staging her own murder scene, her motives are murky at best. She hates Nick to the point of wanting him dead, yet even the crimes she accuses him of in her diary — pushing her to the floor and threatening her with violence — don't seem consistent with her level of viciousness. That's because Amy isn't what she appears to be.

As explored in the film, Amy seems to have an insatiable desire for attention and adoration from those around her, especially men. This might stem from her own childhood, where she became a minor celebrity, the basis for a popular series of children's books written by her parents. This narcissism is fed early in her marriage by Nick's endless adoration, but that affection dissipates when he loses his job. Amy was then forced to move to Nick's hometown, and she drained her savings to help him invest in a local bar. Then, after discovering his infidelity, Amy's anger turned to bloody rage.

So why did Amy go back to Nick and abandon her plan? As she says in the end, Nick's television interview showed her the driven man she was originally attracted to. But the real question is whether Nick can continue to be that man and save himself from a life of abuse and torment at her hands.

Why did Amy leave all those clues?

It's bad enough that Amy framed Nick for her own murder, but she also left behind a series of cryptic, tormenting clues for him and police to find. Nick thought nothing of them at first — he and Amy regularly played scavenger hunt games — but the notes left behind didn't seem so innocent: They were all left in places where Nick had been having sexual encounters with his younger mistress. The clues even led him to the location of her incriminating diary, but police found it first. Why did she leave these clues?

In addition to being a narcissist and probable sociopath, Amy seems to have a desire to prove she's smarter than everyone else. The clues were left to taunt Nick, and by providing him with a secret code that would allow him to find her diary, it gave him the opportunity to defeat her and prove his innocence. But he would only be able to do it if he could decipher her puzzle — and, ultimately, he was too late, giving her another victory.

How the ending of Gone Girl compares to the novel

Adapted from an acclaimed novel, "Gone Girl" does its best to stay true to the original source material. While most of the story was translated accurately to the screen, there were some subtle alterations made by director David Fincher, particularly to the movie's ending. In the film, Amy murders Desi while having sex with him, brutally slashing his throat as she straddles him in bed in the film's most jaw-dropping moment. But, in the book, Amy is a bit more merciful, drugging him into unconsciousness before she kills him in the same manner, with a knife across the throat. This change was clearly made to make Amy look even more vicious.

Similarly, the movie leaves out a crucial piece of Amy's fabricated evidence against Nick that further explains why he remains with her at the end of the story. In the book, she ingests anti-freeze that she promptly vomits up. She then keeps it saved as further proof of Nick's intent to kill her. As a fail-safe, she even threatens to use this evidence if he ever tries to leave her, while also insinuating that she'll never let him see their child if he tries to expose her, as he plans to write a tell-all book. The film also removes a subplot where Nick seems to fall back in love with Amy through the various clues she left him, reminded of their previous happy relationship.

What Gillian Flynn has said about the ending of Gone Girl

Beyond some of the smaller details, the ending of "Gone Girl" largely follows the book. Its author, Gillian Flynn, has talked about why she chose such a controversial ending. "It was the only thing that made sense to me, that made sense to what was true to the book and true to the characters," she told Entertainment Weekly . "Amy's not going to end up in jail," she continued, claiming that while many fans might have wanted to see Amy face justice, that kind of ending wouldn't have been any better. "People think they would find that satisfying, if she were caught and punished, [but] I promise you, I just don't think you'd find it satisfying for Amy to end up in a prison cell just sitting in a little box."

Many fans over the years, of both the book and the film adaptation, have said that they would have preferred to see Amy get her comeuppance and be killed during the finale, which also made Flynn scoff. "Who's going to do that? I'm not going to have Nick do that. He's not going to do it," she said. Ultimately, Flynn chose an ending that wasn't just unconventional, but truly unsettling, and this was by design. "I've always loved those endings of unease," she said. What happens next is left open, but don't expect a follow-up to explore what becomes of the disquiet couple, as Flynn promises there was never any intent for a sequel.

What David Fincher has said about the ending of Gone Girl

Director David Fincher opened up about why the film — and its ending — interested him during a 2014 Q&A. "I was most interested in the idea of narcissism as a way to hold two people together," he revealed (via IndieWire ). "And the notion that we project the best version of ourselves not only to seduce somebody that we imagine to be perfect for us, but also perfect for our narcissistic rejection."

Beyond the themes the film explored, Fincher says that he was also intrigued by the salaciousness of the story, which he simply found "hilarious." He even admitted that there were moments when he was rooting for Amy during her plan to frame her husband. But what really drew him in was the reaction he knew the ending would elicit. "I also like movies where the audience [recoils]. That's as valid as cheering for the exploding Death Star." If he was looking for a story that would draw shock and awe from its audience, he certainly found it.

What the cast has said about the ending of Gone Girl

Nick from "Gone Girl" is undoubtedly one of Ben Affleck's best roles to date . Speaking to the Detroit Free Press , the actor said that it was crucial the ending remain a secret ahead of the film's release. In his opinion, certain reporters didn't respect this. "We just did an article with The New York Times and they wanted to see the movie," Affleck said. "We did the interview, and lo and behold, the person included basically the essence of the plot in her article. I just felt like this isn't journalism, this isn't news. This is just wanting to be first and not caring if it ruins people's enjoyment of something."

Talking to Collider , Affleck's co-star Rosamund Pike agreed that secrecy was important, and praised Fincher for the movie's marketing campaign. But it was the film's bloody murder scene that caused her much more concern. "If you're going to do something like that, you have to do it with a certain degree of accuracy." She wanted the moment where Amy slashes Desi's throat to be realistic, so she decided to do some research — and Pike did something beyond nasty . "I actually went to a butcher and asked them if they wouldn't mind me just using a box cutter on a pig carcass, just to understand what it would be like."

How fans and critics reacted to the ending of Gone Girl

The ending of "Gone Girl" makes it an unconventional thriller. The perpetrator of the story's worst crimes didn't just get away scot-free, but got everything they wanted. As Gillian Flynn alluded to in her Entertainment Weekly interview, audiences were polarized, with many feeling the film's dark ending should have been different. In fact, many fans and even professional critics were so miffed at the film's conclusion that they posited their own endings that they thought would have been better.

Adam Appleton of the Southeast Missourian proposed five alternative endings, including one version where Amy doesn't return, kept prisoner by Desi, while Nick is found guilty of her murder. "This ending would surely appeal to Fincher's dark side," Appleton wrote. Meanwhile, over on PopSugar , another six possible conclusions were raised by writer Ryan Roschke, with one of the more interesting ideas seeing Desi surviving Amy's attack and murdering both Amy and Nick in a slasher-like ending that feels more like a traditional plot twist.

But it was fans on Reddit who seemed to have the most fun. In one post, u/-AlternateEnding- shared a lengthy idea of their own. In this version, following the film's actual ending, Nick's rage boils over and he kills Amy for real. "This could be by him accidentally pushing Amy down the stairs (the event that Amy concocted while trying to frame him)," they wrote.

45 Facts About The Movie Gone Girl

Written by Cesya Brock

Modified & Updated: 17 May 2024

Reviewed by Sherman Smith

Gone Girl, directed by David Fincher and based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, took the world by storm when it was released in 2014. This psychological thriller quickly became a cinematic sensation, captivating audiences with its intense storyline, gripping performances, and mind-bending plot twists.

In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of Gone Girl and uncover 45 intriguing facts about the movie that you may not know. From behind-the-scenes secrets to trivia about the cast and crew, these facts will give you a deeper appreciation for this critically acclaimed film that kept audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Key Takeaways:

• “Gone Girl” is a thrilling movie that explores marriage, deceit, and media manipulation. It features a captivating storyline, powerful performances, and unexpected plot twists, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats .
• The film’s success led to renewed interest in psychological thrillers and increased book sales for the novel. It challenges perceptions and leaves a lasting impact on audiences, making it a must-watch for movie enthusiasts.

Gone Girl is a psychological thriller film released in 2014.

The movie, based on the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, was directed by David Fincher.

The film stars Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne and Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne.

They deliver exceptional performances, capturing the complexities of their characters.

Gone Girl explores themes of marriage, deceit, and media manipulation.

The story takes unexpected twists and turns, keeping the audience engaged throughout.

The film received critical acclaim and was a commercial success.

It grossed over $369 million worldwide, against a budget of $61 million.

Gone Girl was nominated for numerous awards, including an Academy Award for Rosamund Pike’s performance.

Pike received widespread recognition for her portrayal of Amy Dunne .

The screenplay for Gone Girl was written by Gillian Flynn herself.

She effectively adapted her own novel into a compelling and suspenseful script.

The movie’s soundtrack was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The haunting and atmospheric music adds to the tension of the film.

Gone Girl features a nonlinear narrative structure.

The story unfolds through flashbacks and alternating perspectives, adding to the mystery.

The film’s cinematography, done by Jeff Cronenweth, is visually stunning.

The use of dark and moody lighting enhances the sinister atmosphere of the movie.

Gone Girl tackles issues of perception and media sensationalism.

It raises thought-provoking questions about how truth and lies can be manipulated for public consumption.

The movie explores the dark side of relationships and the breakdown of trust.

It delves into the complexities of marriage and the secrets that can lurk beneath the surface.

Gone Girl features a talented ensemble cast, including Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, and Carrie Coon.

Each actor brings depth and nuance to their respective roles.

The film has several shocking plot twists that keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

It is a rollercoaster ride of suspense and intrigue.

Gone Girl earned a reputation for its surprising and unconventional storyline.

It defies genre expectations and keeps audiences guessing until the very end.

The movie’s marketing campaign played on the mystery and intrigue surrounding the story.

It built anticipation and curiosity among audiences.

Gone Girl examines the power dynamics within relationships.

It portrays the manipulation and control one partner can exert over the other.

The film received praise for its strong female characters.

Amy Dunne, in particular, is a complex and multifaceted character.

Gone Girl explores themes of revenge and the lengths one will go to maintain control.

It reveals the dark side of human nature.

The movie’s screenplay deviates slightly from the novel, bringing its own unique twists.

This adds an element of surprise for those familiar with the book.

The film’s editing, done by Kirk Baxter, is seamless and effectively builds tension.

The pacing keeps the audience engaged from start to finish.

Gone Girl examines the impact of the media on high-profile cases.

It raises questions about the ethics and responsibility of journalism.

The movie’s gripping storyline and compelling performances leave a lasting impact on viewers.

It is a film that lingers in the mind long after the credits roll.

Gone Girl features a memorable supporting cast, including Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit.

They bring depth and authenticity to the story.

The film’s production design, led by Donald Graham Burt, effectively portrays the contrasting worlds of Nick and Amy.

Their respective environments reflect their personalities and hidden truths.

Gone Girl explores the concept of identity and how it can be shaped and manipulated.

It raises questions about authenticity and the masks we wear in relationships.

The movie’s screenplay delves into the darkest aspects of human behavior.

It explores themes of obsession, deceit, and manipulation.

Gone Girl was a box office success, exceeding expectations.

It resonated with audiences around the world, leading to its commercial success.

The film’s costume design, done by Trish Summerville, effectively reflects the characters’ personalities and moods.

The wardrobe adds depth to the story.

Gone Girl received praise for its complex and intricate plot.

The story is meticulously woven, leaving no loose ends.

The movie’s success led to renewed interest and popularity in psychological thrillers.

It paved the way for similar films in the genre.

Gone Girl explores the concept of perception versus reality.

It challenges viewers to question the motives and actions of the characters.

The film’s sound design creates an immersive experience for viewers.

The subtle details enhance the tension and atmosphere of the movie.

Gone Girl received critical acclaim for its screenplay, direction, and performances.

It is considered a standout in the genre.

The movie’s final act delivers a shocking and satisfying conclusion.

It ties up the loose ends and reveals the truth behind the characters’ actions.

Gone Girl was a game-changer in terms of its narrative structure and storytelling techniques.

It pushed the boundaries of what a psychological thriller could be.

The film’s success led to increased book sales for Gillian Flynn’s novel.

It introduced a new audience to her gripping storytelling.

Gone Girl explores themes of manipulation and control within relationships.

It sheds light on the darker side of love and marriage.

The movie’s title, Gone Girl, holds significant meaning within the context of the story.

It symbolizes the disappearance and transformation of Amy Dunne.

Gone Girl is known for its powerful and intense performances.

The actors bring depth and emotion to their roles.

The film’s screenplay is filled with sharp and clever dialogue.

It adds to the suspense and intrigue of the story.

Gone Girl examines the role of media and public perception in shaping narratives.

It raises questions about the reliability of information in the digital age.

The movie’s marketing campaign created a sense of mystery and intrigue.

It heightened anticipation for its release.

Gone Girl’s success cemented David Fincher’s reputation as a master of suspense.

He expertly crafts tension and suspense in every scene.

The film’s pacing keeps viewers engaged, never allowing a dull moment.

It is a thrilling and suspenseful ride from start to finish.

Gone Girl is a thought-provoking film that stays with you long after you’ve watched it.

It challenges perceptions and leaves audiences pondering its themes.

Gone Girl is a gripping and intense thriller that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. With its intricate plot, memorable characters, and shocking twists, it has become a modern classic in the world of cinema. The movie’s success can be attributed to its talented cast, led by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike , as well as the masterful direction of David Fincher. The film explores themes of marriage, deception, and the dark side of human nature, leaving viewers questioning their own perceptions of truth and manipulation. Whether you’re a fan of psychological thrillers or simply enjoy a good mystery, Gone Girl is a must-watch movie that will leave you captivated until the very end.

Q: Who directed Gone Girl?

A: Gone Girl was directed by David Fincher , known for his work on other acclaimed films such as Fight Club and The Social Network.

Q: Is Gone Girl based on a book?

A: Yes, Gone Girl is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn . The film stays true to the suspenseful and twist-filled nature of the book.

Q: What genre is Gone Girl?

A: Gone Girl is a psychological thriller. It combines elements of mystery, suspense, and drama to create a thrilling and thought-provoking viewing experience.

Q: How long is Gone Girl?

A: The runtime of Gone Girl is approximately 2 hours and 29 minutes.

Q: What is the plot of Gone Girl?

A: Gone Girl follows the story of Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. As the investigation unfolds, secrets and lies are revealed, leading to a shocking twist that keeps viewers guessing until the very end.

Q: Is Gone Girl a true story?

A: No, Gone Girl is a work of fiction. However, its realistic portrayal of relationships and the dark side of human nature adds to its gripping and believable narrative.

If you're craving more captivating cinematic content, dive into our exploration of the thriller genre's most gripping films. Uncover fascinating insights about acclaimed director David Fincher , whose works continue to captivate audiences worldwide. For those seeking enigmatic tales, our article on Eleusinian Mysteries will satisfy your curiosity and leave you pondering life's greatest secrets.

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By Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl is a psychological thriller novel by Gillian Flynn, published in 2012. The story follows the disappearance of Amy Dunne, a young woman who goes missing on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary. 

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

The novel is divided into three parts, each told from a different perspective. ‘ Gone Girl ‘ has been widely acclaimed for its intricate plot, well-developed characters, and surprising twists and turns, making it a must-read for fans of suspenseful and thought-provoking fiction .

Spoiler-Free Summary of Gone Girl 

‘ Gone Girl ‘ is a suspenseful psychological thriller written by Gillian Flynn . The story revolves around Nick and Amy Dunne, a seemingly happy couple whose marriage is thrown into turmoil when Amy goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. 

As the investigation into Amy’s disappearance unfolds, secrets and lies are uncovered, and the truth about Nick and Amy’s relationship is gradually revealed. 

The novel is a gripping and thought-provoking exploration of the darker aspects of human nature and raises important questions about love, marriage, and the lengths to which people will go to get what they want.

Full Summary of Gone Girl 

Warning – This article contains important details and spoilers

Part one of the novel introduces one of the main characters, Nick Dunne, on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary. Nick comes home to find that his wife, Amy Dunne, the other main character, is missing, and there are signs of a struggle in their home. He immediately calls the police to report her disappearance.

As the investigation begins, Nick’s behavior and his lack of emotional response to Amy’s disappearance raise suspicions among the police and the media. Nick is portrayed as an unfaithful and uncaring husband, as evidence surfaces that he has been having an affair.

The media attention surrounding the case intensifies, and Nick is hounded by reporters and internet sleuths who dig up details about his past and scrutinize his every move. Meanwhile, the police uncover more evidence that seems to implicate Nick in Amy’s disappearance, including inconsistencies in his alibi and evidence of financial troubles.

As the search for Amy continues, Nick becomes increasingly desperate to clear his name and find his wife. He enlists the help of his twin sister, Margo, and hires a lawyer to defend him against the mounting evidence. However, the more he tries to prove his innocence, the more he seems to incriminate himself.

Part two shifts perspective and is told through a series of diary entries written by Amy Dunne. These entries reveal the true nature of Amy and Nick’s relationship, as well as the events leading up to Amy’s disappearance.

Through Amy’s diary, it is revealed that she was unhappy in her marriage and had been planning to leave Nick for some time. She also reveals that she has faked her own disappearance in order to get revenge on Nick for his infidelity and other betrayals.

Amy’s diary entries are interspersed with chapters from Nick’s perspective, which continue to follow his attempts to clear his name and find his wife. As Nick becomes more and more embroiled in the investigation, Amy’s diary entries become increasingly unsettling, revealing a dark and manipulative side to her character.

It is also revealed that Amy has been planning her elaborate revenge plot for some time and has carefully staged her disappearance to make it look like Nick was responsible. She has even gone so far as to create a false trail of clues and evidence in order to lead the police and the media to believe that Nick is guilty.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Amy is a highly intelligent and calculating character who is willing to go to truly extreme lengths to get what she wants.

Part three brings together Amy and Nick’s perspectives, as the two are reunited after Amy’s elaborate plot is uncovered. It is revealed that Amy has been living in hiding and has been carefully orchestrating events to ensure that Nick is implicated in her disappearance.

Nick and Amy’s reunion is tense and fraught with emotion as the two grapple with the revelations that have been uncovered over the course of the investigation. Nick is devastated to learn the truth about Amy’s deception and struggles to reconcile his feelings for her with the knowledge of what she has done.

Amy, on the other hand, is still angry and resentful toward Nick and continues to manipulate him in order to get what she wants. She threatens to frame him for murder if he doesn’t go along with her plan to stay together and uses her considerable intelligence and cunning to maintain control over their relationship.

The final chapters of the novel bring the story to a shocking and unexpected conclusion as Nick and Amy’s twisted and dysfunctional relationship reaches its climax. The true nature of their feelings for each other is revealed, and the reader is left with a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty about what the future holds for the couple.

What kind of novel is Gone Girl ?

‘ Gone Girl ‘   is a psychological thriller novel that delves into the darker aspects of human nature, exploring themes of love, betrayal , and the lengths to which people will go to get what they want.

What is the style of Gone Girl ?

‘ Gone Girl ‘ is gripping and suspenseful, with well-developed characters and intricate plot twists that keep readers on the edge of their seats. The novel is told through multiple perspectives and features a non-linear narrative structure that adds to its complexity and intrigue.

Is Gone Girl worth reading?

Yes, it is widely regarded as a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers and suspenseful fiction. The book has received critical acclaim for its intricate plot, well-drawn characters , and surprising twists and turns, making it a highly engaging and thought-provoking read.

Is Gone Girl a movie? 

Yes, ‘ Gone Girl ‘ was adapted into a movie in 2014, directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. The movie was a critical and commercial success, earning several award nominations and cementing the novel’s place as a modern classic of the psychological thriller genre.

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Gone Girl (2014)

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Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) is stroking his wife Amy's (Rosamund Pike) hair, saying through a voiceover that he'd like to bash her head in and pick her brain apart to see what kind of secrets come spilling out.

July 5th, 2012 (The Morning Of) - Nick goes to a bar he co-owns with his sister Margo (Carrie Coon). He brings her a board game that she throws in with a pile of others. She takes out two glasses and pours Nick and herself some bourbon. It's the day of Nick and Amy's 5th anniversary. Nick seems distressed, not wanting to be home at all.

January 8th, 2005 - Nick and Amy first meet at a party in New York. He writes for a men's magazine and she writes personality quizzes for another. She makes a comment on his chin making him look untrustworthy. He puts two fingers on his chin to seem more trustworthy. They take a walk and pass through a bakery that is getting a sugar delivery. Sugar is floating around everywhere as Nick and Amy walk through it. Nick tells Amy he has to kiss her now. He wipes some sugar off her lips and kisses her. He later goes down on her.

In the present day, Nick returns home. He picks up his cat that's sitting outside on the front lawn. He enters his home and calls for Amy. No answer. He goes into the living room and sees a table flipped over and the glass surface is broken. Nick screams Amy's name, startling a neighbor.

Nick calls the police. Arriving at his home are Detective Rhonda Boney and Officer Jim Gilpin (Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit). They inspect the place. Rhonda sees a smear of blood in the kitchen above the counter. In the living room, they see a wall with pictures of "Amazing Amy", a book series written by Amy's parents. Rhonda comments that she loves the books and is surprised to learn that Nick is married to Amazing Amy herself.

February 24th, 2007 - Nick and Amy go to a party held by her parents Rand and Marybeth (David Clennon and Lisa Banes). Rand asks Amy to go sit with bloggers and reporters to answer some questions. She does, and they get her with mundane questions such as if she hasn't been married yet. Nick comes in pretending to be a reporter, where he proposes to Amy by putting a ring inside a booklet.

Nick is brought into the police station for questioning about Amy's disappearance. Rhonda and Jim find it odd that he seems rather indifferent and passive when answering questions and the fact that he doesn't know if Amy has any close friends or her blood type. He goes to call Amy's parents. Her mother asks to speak to Rhonda. In the next room, Nick finds that his father Bill (Leonard Kelly-Young) is in there after the police found him wandering around town, having left the treatment clinic (he suffers from Alzheimer's). Nick drives him back to the clinic.

Nick stays at Margo's house while the police inspect his home. A pregnant neighbor, Noelle Hawthorne (Casey Wilson), who also claims to be Amy's best friend, comes by and asks about Amy. In the bedroom, Officer Jim finds an envelope in a clothing drawer, marked "Clue One" and notifies Rhonda.

July 5th, 2009 - Nick and Amy have been happily married for two years. They go to the library and have sex in a quiet area. They discovered they got each other the exact same expensive sheet set, in the same color with the same thread count, because of a previous conversation where Amy complained about sleeping in a terrible bed with terrible sheets..

When questioned about this "clue", Nick says it's something Amy made as part of a treasure hunt for their anniversary. The first clue leads him and Rhonda to his office, where a pair of red panties are found. The second clue there mentions a brown house, but Nick goes to his father's old home, which is painted blue. They find the third clue there, but Nick is unable to decipher it.

Amy's parents fly in from New York as a press conference is held to spread awareness of Amy's disappearance. Nick asks others for help, but he appears emotionless, and only makes himself look bad as he smiles next to the poster of Amy.

Nick and Amy's parents meet with Rhonda to determine some possible suspects. Rand names an ex-boyfriend of Amy's, Desi Collings, who apparently tried to commit suicide after Amy broke up with him, and a former classmate named Tommy O'Hara that allegedly sexually assaulted Amy, and so she pressed charges.

People go to the volunteer center to help find Amy. One person there is Desi Collings (Neil Patrick Harris). Nick tries to come off as friendly to others, but Jim doesn't buy it. Even Marybeth thinks he is acting like a "homecoming king." One woman takes a picture with Nick. He asks her to delete it, but she refuses. Consequently, this and other actions from Nick hit the media and TV personalities like Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle) paint him as an unempathetic sociopath.

As Amy continued to document her married life in her diary, it is shown by their third year of marriage, both Nick and Amy were hit by the recession, and both of them lost their jobs. Amy tells Nick that she let her parents use her trust fund money, which is nearly a million dollars. Later on, Nick has started losing interest in the marriage and has begun overspending on electronics like video games and a new laptop. Amy thinks he is trying to make her look like a cold, bitchy wife. To make matters worse, Nick and Margo's mother Maureen (Cyd Strittmatter) was diagnosed with breast cancer, forcing Nick and Amy to move back to his hometown in Missouri. This led Amy to think that she was disposable and that Nick didn't need her anymore. Over time, he just kept using her for sex. They had an argument over having kids, leading Amy to hit Nick in the chest, and Nick grabbing Amy and throwing her against the staircase. He immediately looks shameful.

A few nights after Amy disappears, Nick gets a text from someone saying they are outside Margo's house. Nick opens the back door. A young woman, Andie Fitzgerald (Emily Ratajkowski), comes in and starts kissing Nick. He tells her to be quiet while Margo is sleeping. He makes sure that Andie hasn't said anything to anybody about her affair with Nick or that he has mentioned wanting to divorce Amy. They continue kissing and have sex.

Nick lets Andie slip out the door early in the morning, thinking Margo is still asleep. However, she is standing in the kitchen and angrily berates her brother for lying to her, knowing what would happen if the cops or media were to find out about this.

At night, there is a vigil for Amy. Nick stands alongside her parents, trying to seem more empathetic and hopeful to find Amy. Andie is in the crowd and calls him an asshole. Noelle walks by and calls out to Nick, asking him if he knew that Amy was six weeks pregnant. The reporters chase Nick all the way to the police car as they escort him out of there.

Margo presses Nick about the pregnancy bombshell. He says he did not know she was pregnant, but that he did want kids and Amy didn't.

Rhonda and Jim meet Nick back in his home and mention that someone wiped up a pool of blood in the kitchen. Nick also doubts that Amy knew Noelle, until Rhonda shows him photographs of the two of them, along with Noelle's kids. She even hands Nick a document of recent transactions from Amy's credit card, though Nick says he never bought any of those items. Additionally, Rhonda presses Nick about the fact that he upped Amy's life insurance policy earlier that year. Rhonda also gets a call after Amy's sample results come back, concluding that she was indeed pregnant.

While Nick tries to decipher the third clue of Amy's treasure hunt, Rhonda and Jim continue their investigation. They find a local dealer and show him a picture of Amy. He tells Rhonda that she came by and tried to buy a gun from him. They go back to Nick's father's home and go to the basement. In the furnace, they find what happens to be Amy's diary, burnt slightly from the outside. Nick, meanwhile, figures out the clue and is led to the wood shed outside Margo's home, where a large pile of electronics are stored, and a box in the middle of it all.

We go back to "the morning of", and we learn the truth - Amy is alive and she staged everything to lead up to her disappearance. She is seen driving away from Missouri with her arm bandaged up slightly. For a while, Amy has been writing false information in the diary to leave an implication of Nick being abusive towards her, as well as personal fears that he may kill her. She even planned to fake her pregnancy by befriending Noelle and making her think that Nick was hurting her. Amy drained her toilet and let Noelle drink enough fluids for her to use the bathroom, so Amy stole her urine and left a sample for the cops to find. On the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy let Nick go about his day while she set up a crime scene to make Nick look guilty. She has even planned ahead in case she needs to kill herself to completely frame Nick. To make sure she's not found out, she cuts her hair, dyes it, and makes herself look unkempt and disheveled, and she hides out at a small resort under the name Nancy, even hitting herself with a hammer in the face to sell it. She befriends a woman named Greta (Lola Kirke). Amy tells her how she came across Nick leaving the bar with Andie during a snowy night, wiping her lips before he kissed her the same way he kissed Amy when they first met (this part is true).

Nick brings the box inside and opens it to find Punch and Judy dolls, with the Judy doll missing a mallet. Together, he and Margo deduce that Amy has framed Nick for her disappearance.

Nick goes to New York to find Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry), a lawyer that has been following Nick's story in the media. He agrees to help Nick prove his innocence. He gives Nick the contact information of Tommy O'Hara so that Nick can ask him questions.

Nick meets Tommy (Scoot McNairy) in a bar. Tommy says he met Amy at a party and had consensual sex with her, but she later framed him and made it look as though he raped her. Now he is a registered sex offender and has not been able to get a job. Nick later visits Desi after finding his address from a letter he wrote to Amy. After Nick asks Desi about his side of the story regarding his attempted suicide, Desi closes the door on him and walks back inside his house.

At the resort, Amy plays mini-golf with Greta and her friend Jeff (Boyd Holbrook). At one point, she jumps up and drops her fanny pack full of money. Greta and Jeff notice. The next day, they get Amy in her room and rob her. Now penniless, she calls someone from a payphone.

Tanner goes to Missouri to help Nick and Margo clear up Nick's image. Nick tells Tanner what he thinks has been going on with Amy, dropping clues that only he would really know. For instance, the reason he knew that the "brown house" in the treasure hunt clue was his dad's house was because they'd pretend that his dad was a spy called Mr. Brown. Nick also admits to the affair, which Tanner says he ought to tell the cops about so that it gives them one less reason to think Nick had a motivation to kill Amy.

Nick later books an interview on TV with Sharon Schieber (Sela Ward). Tanner coaches him to make him seem more likable by having Nick admit that he's been unfaithful and dishonest, which would earn him some possible points in the media.

On the day of the interview, Tanner keeps trying to get Nick to come off less smug and more genuinely upset by pelting him with gummy bears in his dressing room until Nick gets it right. At the same time, Desi finds Amy in a casino after he calls her. She never mentions getting her money stolen, but she continues to play up the abused wife angle. As they leave, and as Nick meets Sharon, a bombshell hits the news: Andie confesses to her affair with Nick at a press conference, in front of Amy's parents. Desi and Amy see the news at the casino while Sharon gets wind of it at the same time. Marybeth tells reporters that her and Rand's love for Nick ended then and there.

Desi takes Amy back to his home. Together, they watch Nick's interview with Sharon, which Nick is watching with Margo. Nick convincingly comes off as remorseful for the affair, but he insists that he did not kill his wife. Sharon lets him speak directly into the camera to say something to Amy. He says he loves her and drops mention of the woodshed (figuratively) before putting two fingers on his chin, knowing Amy would recognize that. Margo checks the internet and sees Nick is already getting more love.

Things take an unfortunate turn when Rhonda and other officers show up at Margo's home with a search warrant after getting an anonymous tip (but it was actually Amy) that there were loud noises coming from Margo's woodshed. They find all the electronics from the credit card bill. Both Nick and Margo are taken into custody. Rhonda reads to Nick the pages of Amy's diary, which is ended with "This man may truly kill me." Jim brings in the missing Judy mallet from the puppets, which gives Rhonda reason to implicate Nick and place him under arrest. Nick tries to give his argument, but Tanner shuts him up.

At Desi's home, Amy learns that Desi has security cameras installed nearly all over the place. While he's out at work, she soaks her nightgown in wine and crawls to the camera, making it look like she's just been raped as she fakes crying.

Nick and Margo are released on bond. The media continues to hound them on the way out, now that everyone is convinced Nick is a cold monster. Nick quietly whispers to himself, "Come home, Amy. I dare you."

Amy waits for Desi to come home. She gets a wine bottle and puts it in herself as she plans something. When Desi gets home, Amy seduces him and agrees to go with him to Greece. They go into the bedroom and start having sex. When Desi is caught off guard, Amy grabs a box cutter she was concealing and slashes his throat. She becomes drenched in his blood and leaves him to die.

Nearly a whole month after Amy's disappearance, Nick looks out his window to see that things seem quiet. In his driveway is Amy, still covered in blood. The reporters and neighbors are shocked and begin clamoring around Nick and Amy as she walks up to him. He whispers to her, "You fucking bitch", before she collapses in his arms.

At the hospital, Amy makes a story about how Desi kidnapped and raped her before she made her heroic escape. Rhonda asks her questions regarding the items in Margo's woodshed, but Amy ignores them in favor of telling her rape story, while also being heavily medicated on painkillers. The reporters follow her and Nick home, happy that she's alive and that Nick is now vindicated. However, Nick knows something is wrong. Amy lets him hop in the shower with her as she washes Desi's blood off her, and to make sure Nick's not wearing a wire. She all but outright states that she did frame Desi and murdered him to make her return seem heroic.

Nick meets with Tanner, Margo, and Rhonda (who now trusts Nick) about this revelation, though without sufficient evidence and with everybody on Amy's side, they cannot prove that she murdered Desi and framed Nick for her disappearance.

Nick and Amy make their first public appearance together at the volunteer center, posing as a happily reunited couple. They are even set to have an interview with Ellen Abbott. Amy gives Nick a gift, which is a pregnancy test. It's positive. Nick knows this is another ploy of hers to keep him with her, and he slams her head against the wall, calling her a cunt. She tells him she's the same cunt he fell in love with. Reluctantly, Nick joins Amy hand-in-hand for the interview. They break the news to Ellen, who is overjoyed and hugs Amy. Margo later finds out about the pregnancy and cries for her brother, knowing he is stuck with the real monster for another 18 years.

The film concludes with Nick stroking Amy's hair again, wondering to himself just what she's thinking.

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Home » News » Movie News

Gone Girl was filmed in Cape Girardeau and built the Big Apple in L.A.

Classic 2014 mystery thriller Gone Girl starred Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in a twisted story of kidnapping and revenge, directed by David Fincher. Filmed in Cape Girardeau and its surrounding areas, and with New York being simulated on an L.A. soundstage, the film has become a great example of the mystery genre and is still referenced when speaking about similar affairs.

Where was Gone Girl filmed?

Cape Girardeau

A quick look at m ovie-locations.com shows that  Gone Girl was filmed almost entirely in Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas. Cape Girardeau is situated in eastern Missouri along the border of Illinois. During the film’s credits, among the montage of shots, eagled-eyed location hunters will spot the town clock, and this is the actual town clock of Cape Girardeau, located downtown.

The bar, called “The Bar”, where Nick is often seen, is not far from the clock and was filmed on the corner of North Spanish Street, which used to be a business address called Socials Cafe and Catering. It appears that the business is now called Socials Cafe and Coffeehouse, and a look at their Facebook page shows a mouth-watering menu of home-cooked food and treats.

As well as the linear narrative, the film features flashbacks to New York, however, these scenes were not filmed in The Big Apple at all.

Gone Girl | Image via 20th Century Fox

Los Angeles

The New York scenes were recorded on a sound studio located in LA. You can see that the scenes of the Dunnes leaving their city brownstone were filmed on the “New York City Street” which was purpose-built on the Universal Studios backlot in Los Angeles and is used consistently for productions such as this.

Another scene of the couple in a bookshop was also recorded in LA, and not in New York. That particular location was a real store and could be found at 453 South Spring Street.

Where is the movie supposed to be set?

The film was set in the fictitious town of North Carthage, which was meant to be located in Missouri. However, it is reported that the writer of the novel, Gillian Flynn, was inspired by the real-life town of Cape Girardeau, and that is where most of the location work was done.

Where is the bridge?

Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge | Image via American Institute of Steel Construction

The bridge that is often seen in the film is The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. This style of bridge is called a cable-stayed bridge, and it is used for connecting Route 34 in Missouri with Illinois Route 34 and 74 with Illinois Route 146 across the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau and East Cape Girardeau. The bridge was named after Bill Emerson, who was a politician in the area from 1981 until 1996 when he died. Bill served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

What happened on the bridge?

Without spoiling too much of the twisted story, a key scene in the film happens on the bridge, and we see Amy, covered in blood, returning to Nick while being surrounded by the paparazzi, who are more than eager to capture the event as it happens.

Article by Louie Fecou

Louie Fecou joined the Ready Steady Cut writing team back in August 2018 as an Entertainment Writer and, since then, has published over 1,000 articles for the site. Louie has proven experience in various publications, print and online. To kickstart his journalism career, in 2013, he was a columnist and writer for The Irvine Herald Newspaper.

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