David Fincher definitely can create a fantastic and chilling atmosphere, especially in his late films. Gone Girl really is a fascinating story about and an unconventional relationship. Apart from the atmosphere, screenplay, or technical achievements, the performance of Ben Affleck is probably the most fascinating thing about it. I'm not going crazy about it, but it certainly is a very fine performance that even has got its depth, which is shocking from Affleck.
But the performance that really stands out of the otherwise very solid ensemble is Rosamund Pike's. She plays Amy, Affleck's character Nick's wife, who disappears. Before the twist, Amy is portrayed as some sort of femme fatale. As a beautiful and intelligent young woman, though very mysterious. She is mysterious in an inviting way. You won't have a hard time understanding, why Nick fell for her. Pike is great in portraying this kind of woman. She creates such atmosphere around her, that we want to find out, who is this woman? How does she think? In a metaphoric way, we fall in love with her through the screen.
Before the middle of the film, there is a twist. In that we find out that she rigged the missing and is on her way away from her husband. Though we find out something more about her, there is still a mystery around her. That is something I should probably criticise, but there is no reason to. She portrays Amy as a human being. I mean, every woman (or simply everyone) has got secrets. We never get under them, just as we never get under the secrets of people around us.
Amy is a very cruel woman. She not only does something to make his husband suffer for the marriage they had, but is in fact able to kill. Despite this I completely understand, why is this film so beloved among feminists. It shows woman, who has got her needs, feelings, cravings, as well as mistakes. That's why this performance is so human. Though she does something that is very bold, when she is threatened, she just as defenseless, as everyone else would be (the scene she is being robbed in).
There is a scene at the end of the film, where Amy watches Nick on TV confessing that he was cheating on Amy. Pike's acting the reaction is actually fantastic. She not only stays realistic, but her reaction is also very funny. We see that she's in shock, she doesn't understand what she's watching right now and she thinking about how it changes her plan and what must she do now. She achieves all that in just one look.
A great performances stays within you a long time after watching a film. But I can't think of any other performance in a while that would hit me that much. I was thinking about Amy, as I would be thinking about a strange person, if I met one. My attitude towards Amy was the same as towards a real person. That's something I cannot say about many performances and it might be the biggest proof of a fantastic performance...
The chances of winning an Oscar: The would be the second choice after Julianne Moore. But Julianne seems unbeatable right now...
