A thriller at it's finest

Rating: 7/10 (5 October 2014)

This movie is about a genius psychopath, about the prolonged pleasure of revenge. Amazing Amy (Rosamund Pike's best performance yet), who really is amazing, is a smart, charismatic and very positive character. With the help of her parents, she had made a name for herself early in her childhood through writing a book called Amazing Amy, which was a partially autobiographical novel based on Amy's real childhood. It is initially through this book that we get to have a glance on Amy's real hidden insanity and thirst for manipulation. Her own story wasn't perfect enough for Amy and she manipulated the character to have all the things she desired at that point – lots of friends, a pet and other little pleasures children wish for at this age.
Also in that very scene we get a sense of how gullible, simple and narrow-minded is her husband, Nick, brilliantly portrayed by Ben Affleck. The best he can do is shoot a good joke in a serious conversation or side with Amy on her 'unfortunate childhood'. We get an impression of Affleck as a sort of a trophy husband for Amy, he is good looking, charming and well mannered, however wildly unambitious, which makes him a perfect fit for someone like Amy, who likes and needs to be in control. The intellectual and cultural difference between the two is one of the things that strikes first in their relationship, emphasized with Amy's desire to dictate things, which is echoed in the film through many gestures like the ties she bought him, the watch that he hates but still wears etc. Yet she definitely and truly loves him and in the beginning he does so too.
Love is the only thing Amazing Amy was never able to control - and that's what initially drives her mad – jealousy. She recalls a scene where she goes to surprise Nick to a bar they owned (bought on Amy's money) and spots him with a woman that he kisses using the same gesture of love he used when they first met – and that for her is the tipping point. At this point, he already gradually ruined her big life ambitions, first by getting sacked during the recession, then by forcing her (without asking) to move to a different town to help take care of his dying mother and then, on top of everything, by falling in love with someone else. Love is the best and the worst thing that ever happened to Amy – we see how she quietly suffers without being able to let go, it drives her absolutely insane – we clearly see that her ambitions and abilities are far beyond the lifestyle she lives.
It is a sweet mixture of love-to-hate and revenge that fuels Amy in the journey she carefully and brilliantly plans and with a killer hand and instincts – embarks on. By all means she is incredibly smart and thoughtful – a genius even – we see that when she guides us through her mastermind plan that undoubtedly involved tedious planning and persistence. She however is a woman that doesn't strike us by making spontaneous decisions and the fact that she still truly loves Nick, something she still can't control – ruins her plan in end.
At the turning point of the movie, Amy loses all the money she carefully saved in order to completely execute her plan, however when this falls through, she is again left with a situation she cannot control and that she didn't plan for. Somewhere in the midst of running away, watching Nick perform his glorious smiles on TV and losing all her savings probably made her also realize that her life isn't worth his, that he would probably suffer even more with constantly having her around again after all that happened. At this point Amy's complete descent into madness begins.
She reaches out to an old high school boyfriend – later –stalker Desi who again seems like a perfect target for Amazing Amy to manipulate – he is desperately in love with her and is willing to go all lengths necessary to make it work between them again. In Desi we also see how his deep unintentional love for Amy eventually destroys him.
Going back to the scene where Amy initially reaches out to Desi, it is evident that she does so for the purpose of being able to come home again and continue manipulating her relationship with Nick. Desi by all means is a perfect target for this.
Amy seems to have this ability to constantly control people, but in a way that a psychopath would, stealthily, strategically, without the target even noticing.
Even after all what happened, even after the pregnancy, Nick seems to almost adjust to the situation. He even tells his sister, who supported him all the way through, that the baby is his (even though Amy artificially made this happen without telling him) and that maybe he should try and makes this work with Amy.
One thing remains certain about the amazing Amy Dunn - her nature, choices and unfortunate circumstances have led to a complete and unstoppable descent into evil, revenge, madness and a deep dark desire to be in control of her perfect life, which is a state we leave her and Nick in when the credits start running.