Twisted tale about what's happening beneath the surface

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2014)

With Gone Girl, I think Fincher has created his most thought-provoking work yet. It certainly created a buzz, with most people who walked out after the movie heavily discussing what had all happened. It's a movie that stays with me too and leaves me pondering too, even prompting me to see it twice.
The thing is that this movie works wonderfully well on a level below the narrative level. The narrative, the twisted tale of the girl gone missing, is entertaining well on its own, with some cool twists in the story. But what makes it far more interesting is that this plot is also just a device to bare the world beneath it. The plot is in a way ridiculous, but its masquerading for the strange mechanisms of couple synergy that this movie is really about. The movie works hard to tell what's happening under the surface: the superficial sheen a couple portrays to the outside world, the ebb and flow of a couple's relation.
Not just the plot is a device used as a substitute to tell about the inner workings of this couple. The soundtrack is actually continually reminding us that things are off, that things are at work, that something is rippling below the surface. The soundtrack literally tells us that there are severe cracks forming. The 'inspirational seminar music' is surely intentional, giving off a superficial polish that seems insincere. The low rumblings suggest horror, that things are being ripped apart. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' soundtrack, for which I've got nothing but praise, is outstanding on its own, but how it's actually integrated into the movie, almost becoming a voice in the story is impressive. Fincher and the soundtrack team have really found each other here.
Although surprising in some of its plot twists, Fincher has opted for a more subdued tone for most of this movie. He's extremely controlled though. The camera work and cinematography is completely in line with the mood that every scene needs to have, completely serviceable. There's a very controlled tension throughout. He's just less in-your-face about it than in some of his other movies. And when he finally does go all-out, Fincher proves that he can be uncomfortable and disturbing when needed. Specifically, one scene near the end is outstanding, and highly controlled in its almost micro-delayed way of releasing tension, where you see something happening, are held prisoner for a micro-moments and it hits you a second later what you're actually watching.